Abracadabra
by aominecchi0831
Summary: Nishinoya was annoyed after Hinata unintentionally insulted him for being short. So one night he made a silent wish, that is, to be taller than his kouhai. And it is a dream that came true – well, not in the way everyone expected. [Warning!: fem!Hinata reverse harem]
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Abracadabra**

**Ship: fem!Hinata reverse harem :3**

**Plot: Noya was annoyed after Hinata unintentionally insulted him for being short. So he made a silent wish, that is, to be taller than his kouhai. And it is a dream come true – well, not in the way everyone expected. **

**Note: Haikyuu isn't mine. Forgive me for any error in grammar and spelling. Oh, and you'd probably be wondering why I came up with this. I just love Hina-chan, and I really like the team shortlegs of Karasuno. :3**

**Anyways, douzo!**

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**Chapter 1**

**The Cause:**

Nishinoya Yuu was currently being haunted by his conscience. He felt as if his soul was burning in hell although he was still alive. His heart felt ripped apart mercilessly by wolves and his brain ached like it was shrinking into nothing.

That was how great his crime against Hinata Shoyo had been.

So what happened?

It all began last Friday evening somewhere in Miyagi prefecture, when Karasuno Highschool Men's Volleyball Club finished their daily practice.

"Here, everyone. My treat."

"Waaah! Pork buns!"

"Thank you very much!"

"Tsukki, here's one for you!"

"Ah. Thanks."

"Oi, Hinata! Why are you eating ahead of everyone?!"

"Don't you first year boys know how to RESPECT YOUR SENIORS?!"

"Tanaka-san, you're too loud…"

"Uh…Suga…Daichi looks angry now…"

Nishinoya could only laugh while watching his team mates fool around outside the coach's Foothill Store. And why not? All of the senpais were there: Azumane Asahi, Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi, and Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Then there were the freshmen: Kageyama Tobio, Tsukishima Kei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, and the shorty Hinata Shoyo.

Shorty. Insult intended.

"Noya-senpai!" the petite, orange-haired spitfire of a kouhai approached the team's Guardian Deity, unintentionally implying the (not-so-huge) gap between their heights.

"The snack tastes good! Can I have yours?"

A vein pulsed in Nishinoya's forehead. Somehow the first-year shrimp has been blessed with a few centimeters' length of bone, so he was taller than him. The libero suddenly recalled the moment when Hinata had actually mistaken him for a kid at the training camp.

"No way in hell." Noya ate his pork bun as quickly as possible.

It was strange that height issues got into Noya's nerves that evening. Even weirder was the fact that he was irritated at the fact that Hinata, his kouhai, was taller than him, a senpai. Nishinoya was not the kind of guy who fussed about such trifle things. He had always ignored his size before. He was, after all, an exceptionally-skilled libero. Everyone acknowledges him once they see his moves – like the Rolling Thunder. As well as its newer version, the Rolling Thunder – Again.

Nishinoya naturally noticed his strange behavior himself. Hence he mulled about it as they all began to walk home.

"NOYA-SENPAI!" Hinata, who was an enthusiastic idiot, ran to his side, interrupting the shorter boy's thinking.

"What?" Nishinoya grunted uncharacteristically.

Hinata either did not notice the change in the other boy's tone, or he simply ignored it. "Our practices have gone well, nee? I think we're ready for the next match!"

_**Of course, I know that**__,_ Nishinoya thought without responding.

"Those guys are gonna get surprised when someone as small as you beat their attacks!"

_**Of course, they'll be surprised when someone as –**_the curse word hit Nishinoya like an arrow.

"Oi, Hinata! How dare you – " the libero was about to scold Hinata, had the orange-haired freshman's attention was on him.

"Waaah!" Hinata was looking up the night sky instead. So did the other guys.

"Cool! Meteor shower!"

"At this early?" Tsukishima wondered, with a hint of interest in his brown eyes.

"Why not? It's quite dark already." Sawamura replied.

"Ah! We need to make a wish!" Hinata abruptly shut his eyes close and clasped his hands in prayer.

Nishinoya looked up at the sky, now decorated with beautiful shooting stars which light quickly came and went.

He wanted to make a wish as well.

He closed his eyes, and thrice he spoke in his mind that he wanted to be taller than his kouhai.

Guess what, his dream came true.

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**The Effect:**

Noya's wish quickly took effect, indeed.

The next day, Kageyama Tobio went to Hinata's classroom to invite the latter to practice receiving during lunch time. To his surprise, the orange-haired shrimp was not around. He asked one student and found out that Hinata did not attend the classes that day.

It was the first time that Hinata did not come to Karasuno to attend classes, so Kageyama was quite worried.

_**Weird,**_ he thought, and wondered if the short boy was sick.

He was thinking about Hinata's probable reason for being absent that day when he accidentally ran into Nishinoya at the hallway.

"Kageyama!" Nishinoya greeted with a wide grin.

"Senpai." Kageyama replied with a slight bow.

The libero immediately noticed the look of concern on the freshman setter's face.

"What's wrong? You look preoccupied." Nishinoya asked worryingly.

"Nothing." Kageyama answered. "Hinata's absent today, that's all."

"Eh?" Even Nishinoya was perplexed upon hearing the news. "Did something happen to him?"

Kageyama simply answered with a shrug.

"Hmm." Nishinoya wondered for a moment if his moodiness last night had something to do with it.

"I wonder if the captain knows about this." Kageyama spoke thoughtfully.

"We can tell him about it later." Nishinoya smiled.

"At club time."

"Right." Kageyama nodded in agreement.

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The club room of the men's volleyball team was in a two storey apartment-like stone gray building that was separate from the school building. The building was used mainly for the sports clubs of Karasuno High. Here the club members could hold some meetings, keep their own stuff and do whatever activity they must do.

That afternoon, just after the cleaning hours, Kageyama walked to the building and climbed upstairs to the second floor, where their club room was.

"K-kageyama!"

Kageyama looked up, startled. He heard a high-pitched voice spoke. He looked over his shoulder and noticed a fluff of bright orange hair jutting out of the corner of the sports club building.

A vein pulsed on Kageyama's temple.

"Hinata you idiot, why didn't you attend classes?!" he walked to the back of the building. He was supposed to beat the crap out of the short-legged shrimp, but he stopped when he saw Hinata looking upon him in a desperate manner.

It made Kageyama feel uneasy.

"O-oi," the raven-haired setter gave Hinata a look, "why are you looking at me like that?"

Hinata's big brown eyes were brimmed in tears. His mouth was quivering, as if on the brink of a major breakdown.

"K-kageyama…" he spoke in a shaky voice.

Kageyama raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Your voice sounds higher…like…a girl…"

He asked Hinata a question out of mere curiosity. Plus, he wanted to throw a slight insult because Hinata did not attend school that morning.

"Are you undergoing late puberty?"

Hinata's brown eyes gradually became pools of tears. He snuffled and held them back, but the remark seemed to have a major impact on the smaller boy that he burst into tears all of a sudden.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I DID TURN INTO A GIRL!" Hinata wailed in desperation.

"My voice became higher because I became a girl!"

Kageyama could only gape at such revelation.

"…WHAT?"

He was totally dumbfounded.

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**Uh-huh! My first Haikyuu fanfic!**

**I'm not so familiar with the whole series yet, so do please forgive me if I haven't portrayed the characters well.**

**Mind if you leave a review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hiyaaa!**

**This is chapter two. Kudos to 00JellaNilzzZ (I hope I spelled it right) for being a wonderful adviser (and a slight spoiler, but since I need a lot of info to make things as canon as possible, it's okay XD). I probably could not form a proper plot without you.**

**Here you go, minna. I hope you like it!**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 2**

**More Effects**

When Nishinoya arrived at the gym, he was baffled to find his fellow club members huddled in one corner. Usually he would see them practicing ahead of him, every single one of them full of energy as if they did not have classes earlier that day.

"What's up?" Noya casually approached his team mates. They were standing together, forming a tight wall of humanity. Through the slight gap between the captain Sawamura and the vice captain Sugawara, the libero thought he saw a kid being cornered by the boys.

None of the other members had noticed Nishinoya's arrival. They were too engrossed in talking to the person they've just cornered. It was a serious, man-to-man talk, the one that usually ends up in trouble like in the movies.

"Hinata," Sawamura Daichi spoke in a worried tone, "this is a prank, right?"

_**Hinata?**_ Nishinoya arched an eyebrow. He was sensing trouble.

"Oi, oi, why are you cornering Hinata?" he yelled. "That's bullying!"

Suga looked back at him and gave a nervous smile. "Nishinoya, you're here! Uh…no. We are not bullying Hinata…"

The silver-haired setter's answer puzzled Noya even more. "So what's going on?" he asked.

The other club members finally broke the human wall they have formed around Hinata. Noya stared at his kouhai and immediately noticed something strange.

It was a strange thing which he found awesome, at first.

"Waaaaah!" Noya ran towards Hinata like a whirlwind. He grabbed the ginger-haired shrimp's shoulders, which felt slimmer and fragile.

"I'm taller than you now!"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER, NOYA!" Daichi suddenly burst into volcanic anger, which startled the libero.

"Why are you pissed at me?" Noya whined defensively. He then smirked when he thought the captain made an error in grammar. "And it's 'him', not 'her'."

"You're wrong there, senpai." Tsukishima spoke with an amused smile that irritated Hinata.

"Hina-chan is now a girl…"

"Shut up!" Hinata blurted out, but Tsukki's smile widened even more at the sound of her feminine voice.

Hinata's voice had simply confirmed it all. Noya looked at him – no, her – and he could not avoid dropping his jaw in shock.

"WHAT?"

Kageyama sighed. "That's what I also said at first."

Nishinoya stared at Hinata from head to toe, repeatedly. She has a wild mane of orange hair and big brown eyes, just like yesterday. But she was a few inches smaller than him, and her figure has changed a little. It was not much obvious because of the loose black shirt she was wearing that day, but upon close inspection, you can say that she has the curves of a woman.

Hinata Shouyou, the super-hyper, ginger haired, short-legged, high jumping, super spiking, perfect decoy becomes a girl?

_**Just what the hell is going on?**_

"Ano, I'm wondering…" Yamaguchi said hesitantly.

"How did Kageyama-kun confirm that Hinata became a girl?"

All of the guys stared at Kageyama, whose face suddenly became scarlet.

"Indeed." Daichi was curious as well. "How did you find out?"

Of all the people in the gym, it was Tsukishima who came up with an answer. "Unless Kageyama ordered Hinata to show him…"

"Don't tell me…" Tanaka grabbed the collar of Kageyama's shirt. "You pervert! How could you molest your own team mate?!"

"What?!" Kayegama choked, because of shock and of the strong hand gripping him. "No way I would do that!"

The raven-haired setter could just feel the burning stares that all of his senpais were giving him.

"Really?" Tanaka narrowed his eyes at Kageyama, then looked over his shoulder at Hinata. "Hinata. Did this guy make you take off your clothes?"

Kageyama looked over at Hinata pleadingly. And why not? He'd been charged for a crime he was not guilty of.

Hinata shook her head innocently. "No." she said, being an honest kid that she was.

Kageyama sighed in relief. He thought he was safe from persecution by his seniors.

Too bad Hinata was sometimes too honest for anyone's own good.

"He groped my chest, that's all." Hinata continued, not thinking that what she said would be the death of her own team mate.

Kageyama blanched in horror. Indeed, he had palmed Hinata's chest a while ago before they went to the gym, but it was simply because he did not believe in Hinata's words. He thought that the team's decoy was only kidding.

_**Who among us would believe that Hinata magically turned into a girl, anyway? **_He thought.

"Oi! I did not do that on purpose – " Kageyama did not have a chance to explain himself.

All of the senpais' auras drastically changed into that of deadly demons. Even the cowardly Asahi and the kind Sugawara finally showed their dark side to the unfortunate Kageyama. They loomed over the freshman setter as if they were about to send someone to hell.

"Tanaka. Our kouhai needs to be punished." Daichi spoke darkly. Obviously, the captain was the worst demon of them all.

"C-captain. Sawamura-san. Let me explain…" Kageyama's voice shook in fear of his life.

"Sure, Hinata was a guy. But how could you grope your own team mate?"

"I-I did not do it on purpose!"

Seconds later cries of agony could be heard at the gym while the seniors punish Kageyama.

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It has only been a day since Hinata turned into a girl, and the men's volleyball team has already gone nuts. Much of the senpais became overprotective older brothers, Kageyama experienced the ultimate torture ever, and Tsukishima's snarky comments doubled in number.

_**All because of this freak transformation,**_ Hinata thought, and she heaved a sigh.

"Why me, of all people?" she (let's use she from now on, shall we?) whined.

Nishinoya heard her complain, and regret immediately crept into him like a haunting nightmare.

_**She became a girl because of me,**_ he thought with a frown.

_**If the others find out, I'm…**_

Nishinoya's eyes drifted to Kageyama, who huddled in the bench area. He was uncharacteristically pale and was shuddering in terror, thanks to the punishment he received from his seniors.

_**I'm dead.**_

Nishinoya gulped, as if he could swallow his fear away. No one should find out that he had something to do with Hinata's magical gender switch.

"Nishinoya-senpai."

"It's NOT MY FAULT!" Nishinoya blurted out as he jumped like a surprised cat. He looked over his shoulder and saw Hinata looking at him with wide brown eyes and arched eyebrows.

_**Those eyes looked…different this time.**_

"Not your fault?" Hinata asked, puzzled. She tilted her head to one side in curiosity. "Are you all right, senpai?"

_**Noya, calm down, the ginger newbie has no idea…**_

"I'm fine!" Nishinoya said with a strange grin.

At this, Hinata gave him one of her usual sunny smiles. This time, however, now that she was a girl, it has formed a different impact on Nishinoya. Such a sunny smile from someone like Hinata Shouyou was to Nishinoya an explosion of light but flustering emotions. For some reason he could feel his breath being taken away, and his heart beat sounded louder than ever.

Nevertheless, her smile made him feel so good inside.

_**I'm in big, BIG trouble here,**_ the libero of Karasuno thought as he hid his scarlet face from his kouhai.

Indeed, Nishinoya was in big trouble. He had no idea how big it was, honestly.

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"We're in big trouble here," Daichi spoke promptly.

After the craziness in the gymnasium because of Hinata's gender switch had finally settled down, the team decided to hold a serious meeting. It was, by all means, a significant one. The moment everyone had realized what happened to their ginger-haired decoy, they knew they were in a crucial situation.

It was unfortunate that at that time, Coach Ukai the Younger was away with Takeda-sensei. They were making preparations for the upcoming practice matches against Nekoma High and what Tanaka has deliberately named "City Boy Alliance", a group of premier high school volleyball teams. The managers, Shimizu and Yachi, were not around as well.

"So Hinata has become a girl. Which simply means that she cannot play volleyball with us in his – uh…her state." The captain spoke in a grave tone.

Everyone who looked at the captain was shocked and speechless about his sudden announcement.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEH?" Hinata cried, aghast. She was definitely the most affected of them all. "What do you mean I can't play?"

"It's simple logic." Tsukishima said matter-of-factly with arms folded across his chest.

"You're a woman. This is men's volleyball team. You're not that stupid, are you?"

Hinata glared at the tall young man and pouted. "I understand what the captain is saying!" she spoke angrily.

"Calm down, you two." Suga was the one to mediate as usual. "We're working on a situation here."

Somehow the two freshman middle blockers quieted down because of their senpai's persuasion.

"If our goal is to stand in the court until the end, we need to play full force." Daichi continued speaking.

"That means we need everyone's skill. That includes your decoy abilities." His eyes drifted to Hinata, who then put up a serious face.

"When you freshmen played in the Interhigh, everyone has changed their opinion of Karasuno. Which resulted to us being back as one of the powerhouse teams in the prefecture. Hence we shall expect that all the other teams will take us very seriously in the Spring Tournament. However…"

Hinata could feel some chills running down her spine. The onslaught was about to arrive.

"Now that our decoy's in this condition, we are, shall we say…_**impaired**_."

Suga nodded in agreement. "Without Hinata, we are lacking in offensive power."

The rest of the team quickly understood what they meant. Hinata being off the court meant that there will be no Hinata-Kageyama team up, to make freak quicks for the team. Moreover, without such decoy, Asahi and Tanaka have less chances of making their own scores.

"Damnit!" Tanaka screamed angrily. "Just how the hell did Hinata became a girl anyway?"

It was a question they would all want to know, especially Hinata.

"It's possible that you are a hermaphrodite in the first place." Tsukishima told Hinata.

"H-herma what?" Hinata raised an eyebrow, baffled.

The tall, blond guy looked down at her and smiled wickedly. "My bad. I shouldn't have said such complex stuff to you. Did I just fry your brain?"

"What – you jerk…." Hinata gritted her teeth in utter irritation. The tall middle blocker had already pissed her off more than twice in a row that afternoon.

"Tsukki, you're being so mean today…" Yamaguchi spoke, hoping to put an end to his friend's biting remarks.

Hinata nodded quickly in agreement with Yamaguchi, before giving Tsukishima an angry look. Mind you, Hinata was now a girl, so you could simply imagine how cute that angry face turned out instead.

Tsukishima, however, simply snorted at the sight of it. "Moe," he mumbled.

"What?" Hinata pursed her lips in confusion. She had no idea what the tall guy was talking about.

"That's enough!" Daichi had had enough of their bickering.

Both Hinata and Tsukishima were immediately silenced by the captain, although the shorter middle blocker kept on giving hostile looks at the taller one.

"So, our biggest problem…" Kageyama spoke – he had finally returned to life after that punishment, thank heavens.

"…Is how to bring Hinata back into a guy. But more than that…I think we should also see another problem, when we play those practice matches soon."

"Yeah! That City Boy Alliance!" Tanaka blurted out. The way he said _"city boy"_ sounded so wrong and so hilarious, it had brightened up the ambiance in the gymnasium for a while.

"Speaking of which, the practice matches with Nekoma will be held a week from now." said Sawamura.

Hinata frowned. "Nekoma High…they're expecting us. All of us."

All of a sudden a feeling of frustration crept into the cheerful ginger-haired decoy. She has been looking forward for the practice matches with Nekoma High. _"Cats versus Crows: The Battle at the Trash Heap"_, as people call it. She was even making a huge effort now in passing the mock exams just to make sure she will make it to Tokyo and play once again with Nekoma's setter, Kozume Kenma. The last time they played, Karasuno had lost, but she had promised Kenma that she and her team mates will win next time.

_**I've been looking forward to playing them in Tokyo, but…**_

"Hold it, there. Why do you look so sad Hinata?"

She felt a hand slam her skull as Nishinoya suddenly patted her head with a little too much energy.

"Nishinoya-senpai." Hinata was surprised in spite of herself.

Nishinoya gave his kouhai one big, inspiring grin. "Keep your chin up, Hinata! Boy or girl, you're coming to Tokyo with us!"

At this, the ginger haired decoy cheered up. "Osu!" she nodded with a bright smile.

Nishinoya chuckled, with the purpose of hiding his anxiety. He knew it was his fault that Hinata became a girl. Generally, it was not his fault at all, but since he had wished to a shooting star that Hinata become smaller than him, the libero thought that the gods wanted to mess with him by making his kouhai switch genders.

_**I doubt I can find a solution to this problem right away,**_ Nishinoya thought.

_**Right now, the best thing I can do is help Hinata out as much as possible…**_

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The next day was Sunday, and Hinata woke up late because there weren't classes that day.

"Shou-chan! Wake up! The breakfast will get cold soon." Her mother shouted from the kitchen.

_**Shou-chan? That's how they call me now?**_ A vein pulsed on Hinata's forehead. Apparently her own family had quickly got used to her being a girl.

_**If anything, I think they actually liked me the way I am right now…**_

She got out of her bed and washed her face in the bathroom before going to the dining area. Her mother was in the kitchen and her father was not around, so the only person sitting by the table was her little sister, who greeted her with a beaming smile.

"Good morning, onee-chan!"

Hinata returned the greeting with an awkward smile. "G-good morning…"

Hinata sat down with her sister and began eating breakfast. She was halfway done eating the Japanese breakfast of fish, rice and miso soup when the bell ring.

"Shou-chan, there are people outside!" her mother called.

"I'll get it." Hinata shouted back. She then went outside to check.

Before the entrance to their house stood two cute girls, a tall, lovely girl with deep black hair and a beauty mark close to the side of her lower lip, and a smaller, petite blond girl carrying a sweet smile on her face.

Hinata blushed at the sight of the two girls. "Yachi-san! S-shimizu-san?"

Both Shimizu Kiyoko and Yachi Hitoka greeted her good morning.

"C-come in!"

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When Yachi and Shimizu came inside the Hinata residence, they were greeted by Hinata's mother and sister.

"Are you friends with onee-chan?" Hinata's sister asked.

Yachi smiled awkwardly at this question. "Onee-chan?"

Hinata sighed. "Let's just talk in my room."

She brought the two managers into her room. Hinata's room was simple: a bed by the window, a desk by the left wall, and a wardrobe for her clothes. It was clean, and without decorations.

"What brings you here, Shimizu-san, Yachi-san?" Hinata did not bother to beat around the bush.

"Err…" Yachi glanced at Shimizu, as if pleading for help.

Shimizu handed out a huge paper bag to Hinata. "Here."

"Eh?" Hinata took the parcel and opened it. Inside were two sets of school uniform.

Two sets of female school uniform, to be precise.

"What's this?" Hinata already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"School uniforms." Shimizu said in an even tone.

"Um…those are my extra uniforms, actually." Yachi added. "We heard from the captain, and I thought you could use a bit of change in your wardrobe."

"Uh…well." Hinata was not certain whether she would cry or not. "Thanks a lot, but…I'm known as a guy at school, remember?"

"Takeda-sensei has covered that for you." Shimizu spoke as she pushed the eyeglasses she wore closer to her face.

"In Karasuno you'll become an exchange student."

"That's ridiculous! I may have turned into a girl, but everyone will still think I'm Hinata Shouyou."

"No. Hinata Shouyou is in another school starting Monday. He will only come back once you return to being a boy."

"But I don't wanna wear girl's clothes!" Hinata yelled desperately. She was very sure that all the guys in the volleyball team will be teasing her once they saw her in girl's clothes.

"It's inevitable, Hinata-chan. You're a girl and you need girl's clothes." Shimizu said pointedly.

Yachi nodded in agreement. "Besides, you've a smaller figure now, Hinata-chan. You need to wear something that will fit you perfectly."

The word 'smaller' pierced Hinata's heart like ice pick on jelly. She never thought that her height issues could get any worse.

"Speaking of clothes, does Hinata-chan already have female undies?" Yachi suddenly asked.

"Eh?" Hinata was taken aback by the question.

"You know…lingerie?" Yachi went on, raising an eyebrow in wonder.

Hinata's cheeks turned bright pink as she answered her question by abruptly shaking her head.

"None?" Yachi was appalled.

"None at all." Hinata replied.

She stared at the two managers, and was surprised at their reaction. Shimizu had the most serious look in her face, as if Hinata had said that she was going to die. Yachi, on the other hand, seemed panic-stricken, as if not owning lingerie was the worst phenomenon in the world.

"We NEED to buy you some!" The two managers shouted in unison.

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**Uh, well…this is my first time exceeding a thousand words per chapter. I guess writing a Haikyuu fic is different from writing Kuroko no Basuke fic.**

**Um…review? Onegaii…**


	3. Chapter 3

**(EDITED: 8/27/2014)**

**Yo!**

**So you've read this far? Thank you very much! I know I might have made some changes in the manga's plotline, making it slightly non-canon, but then again as I have already warned you, this is a reverse harem, so it was, somehow, inevitable.**

**Anyway, if you appreciate this, thank you so much!**

**Now, I've made some stuff which 00JellaNilzzZ would call "squeal-worthy" moments. I just hope they are…**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 3: Out of this World**

Hinata's week could not get any weirder.

When she came into Karasuno wearing her female school uniform – black skirt, buttoned-up blouse, and a cute pink bowtie – she thought that she would be the laughingstock of the entire school. Much to her surprise, however, everything was normal. No one asked what happened to the male Hinata nor inquired about her identity.

_**Shimizu-san and Yachi-san were right**_, she thought, and she felt relieved somehow.

For some unknown reason, Takeda-sensei managed to get her into Karasuno High without any trouble. By without any trouble, it meant that the teacher managed to talk his way to the principal about her enrollment and "Hinata Shouyou's absence". Takeda-sensei may not have the knowledge in volleyball, but he sure has a lot of other talents. He's quite the persistent and persuasive guy.

So Hinata got to peacefully prepare for the mock exams. It was unfortunate that the teacher did not get to make her an exception in the incoming tests, but you can't get everything in life, after all.

Now, all Hinata had to do was to make sure she will pass the mock exams, or else she won't come to Tokyo until she had finished the supplementary classes.

It was an easy job.

Not.

For the first time in her life, Hinata ventured into the silent jungle of Karasuno High school's library. It was a milestone, a special event worth recording, to anyone who knows her long enough.

Nevertheless, to study hard for an exam was not an easy job at all, for an airhead like her.

The moment she began reviewing, she was immediately faced by an adversary in the form of a tall bookshelf.

She craned her neck up high, at the thick textbook stuck in the topmost niche of the wooden ledge.

Hinata could not suppress gritting her teeth in annoyance. Her height was getting in her way once again.

She stood on her tiptoes and reached out her hand as high as possible. It was at this point that she felt bad about the few centimeters that she had lost when she turned into a girl. She wanted to jump and spike the book out of the shelf, but she would risk toppling the entire bookshelf and squashing anyone on the other side.

Making a huge effort in trying to get the book, Hinata could feel her joints straining when she felt a pair of hands securely held her hips and lifted her up until she got the textbook out of the shelf.

"Oh, thanks a lot – " Hinata looked over her shoulder and was shocked to see Tsukishima.

"What – Gyaaah!"

Hinata struggled to release herself from the tall blond guy that she almost fell. Luckily, Tsukishima got to save her, catching her a second before her butt landed on the floor.

"Ow…" Hinata winced.

"You idiot." Tsukishima muttered as he helped the ginger-haired girl stand up. "Look what you've done to yourself."

"It's your fault for surprising me." Hinata replied, irritated.

"Hey, I helped you get your book, didn't I?"

"You should've just gotten the book from its slot for me instead."

Tsukishima gave her a smug smile. "I don't want to hurt your pride."

He had perfectly shot another slur at her, this time about her height. Hinata pouted her lips in annoyance. The tall guy has been aiming more insults at her lately.

"Well, now that you're here…" she said, as she preferred to ignore his stinging remark this time. "Please help me out with my studies."

"I already said that I'll only tutor you during my business hours." Tsukishima said, exasperated to be asked again. He had been helping both Hinata and Kageyama in studying for the exams after class hours, and the oddball duo had been asking him to tutor them during lunch breaks as well.

"Come on, I need to pass the exams," Hinata pleaded. "Will you help me? Pleeeeaaaaaaaase?"

Tsukishima stared at her for a moment, with a face that revealed no expression or anything. Hinata had no idea what the tall blond guy was thinking. But if she had the power to read his mind, she would find out that Tsukki was actually pondering about her – how she cute looked in her female uniform, how her always bright smile now have a different, a more powerful effect on other people, how strange it seemed that the team mate that he loved to tease was now an adorable young lady.

Tsukishima was only thankful that she could not read his mind.

He shoved his black-rimmed eyeglasses closer to his face as he answered her, "Fine. Just this once."

"Seriously? You're gonna help me?" Hinata's face brightened up, and gave him a sunny smile. "Thanks!"

_**The sun is now smiling at the moon,**_ Tsukishima thought delightedly, _**how strange.**_

"Moe." He murmured, with a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

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.

Kageyama was tense, as usual. He walked outside to where the vending machines were, his face contorted in deep, serious thought. Everyone who came his way immediately moved aside; they did not want to mess with someone who looked so angry in a bright Monday.

Well, Kageyama Tobio has a lot of problems in his mind that his face looked like he was planning to start a war.

The top problem he has been pondering about was Hinata Shouyou.

Just thinking about what happened to him, uh, her was enough for him not to concentrate on which drink he should get at the vending machine. He simply pushed a random button, but fortunately he got banana milk, the one which he usually buys. Apparently his instinct did the work for him.

_**Hinata turned into a girl.**_ The idea still had not sunk in Kageyama's mind just yet.

_**Now that she's a girl, how can Karasuno compete in the Spring High without her? If he magically became a girl, will she magically return to being a boy? If so, when will it happen?**_

"Kageyama!" he suddenly heard Hinata's cheerful voice.

_**Speak of the devil,**_ Kageyama thought as he took a sip of the milk using a straw.

"Oi, Kageyama!"

"WHAT?" Pissed, Kageyama quickly turned around.

He totally squirted out his drink when he saw Hinata in her female school uniform.

"H-hinata?" he asked, totally surprised to see her in girl's clothes.

_**H-he looks cute…**_

"We're supposed to go studying, remember?" Tsukishima loomed behind Hinata, much to Kageyama's chagrin.

"Nee, Kageyama! Glasses is going to teach me outside business hours!" Hinata said excitedly.

"Wanna join us?"

Kageyama arched his eyebrows at the tall, blond guy in surprise. He could not help but wonder how Hinata had easily persuaded Tsukishima to tutor her.

"What's the matter, King?" Tsukishima glared at the raven-haired setter.

Kageyama quickly returned the hostile look.

"Nothing." He glanced away from them.

"I'll pass. I'm busy right now. I'll just join the group study after class."

"Eh?" Hinata frowned. She was puzzled at his reaction. She expected Kageyama, despite his pride, would allow Tsukishima to teach him in order to pass the exams and come to Tokyo.

"Don't mind His Majesty. Let's go." Tsukishima shoved his eyeglasses to his face and walked away.

"Ah. Okay..." Hinata followed, skipping as she walked beside the tall blond guy back into the building.

They both left Kageyama, who crumpled the box of milk he had just finished drinking. He was frustrated with himself.

He was asking himself why he felt so irritated seeing Hinata and that eyeglasses jerk Tsukishima together.

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.

.

At that time, Nishinoya was sitting at his desk in his classroom. He was unusually silent, and worse, he was unusually serious. All of his classmates were nervous around him because naturally, Nishinoya is a very cheerful guy.

Of course, they were nervous because they have no idea what was wrong with Noya.

Truth be told, there was nothing wrong with him. He was only thinking.

Thinking about Hinata.

_**Is there anything I can do?**_ Nishinoya thought. He furrowed his eyebrows in deep meditation. Since he thought it was his fault that Hinata became a girl, he believed that he should be the one to find a way to turn Hinata back into a boy.

He had faced the screen of the computer all night, searching for some scientific answers on the Internet. But since they were _**scientific**_, Nishinoya ended up having a headache the next day.

"DAMN IT!" he suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring everyone around him.

"Noya!" Tanaka Ryuunosuke suddenly came running to him, carrying a wide, toothy grin.

"What?" Nishinoya glared at him. He was definitely in a foul mood.

Tanaka grimaced at the Guardian Deity's strange reaction towards him. "What's with you?" the wide grin on his face returned afterwards.

"By the way, I've heard news from Yachi. Hinata's wearing a female school uniform today!"

Nishinoya's foul mood quickly vanished.

"What?!"

.

.

.

The supposedly peaceful lunch break at the first year classrooms were suddenly disturbed by a pair of second years.

"HINATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Nishinoya and Tanaka shouted at the top of their lungs as they searched for their underclassman's homeroom.

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In class 1-4, Hinata was taking up English lessons from Tsukishima when they heard the noise.

"What was that?" Hinata looked up from the textbook she has been reading.

"Just concentrate on studying." Tsukishima answered, not giving a damn about what was going on outside.

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.

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Yachi Hitoka was on her way to her homeroom when Nishinoya and Tanaka encountered her.

"Yacchan!" Nishinoya skidded into a halt before her, panting wildly after running all the way from his own classroom.

"Y-yes?" Yachi spoke nervously. She could feel all the other first year students stare at the three of them.

"Where's Hinata?" Tanaka asked in an eager tone.

"Hinata?" Yachi looked up, thinking. "I remember seeing her with Glasses-kun a while ago."

Tanaka grinned. "Hinata's with Tsukishima? Great. That glasses jerk must be enjoying himself now, teasing that shrimp."

Noya smiled at the other guy. "Tsukishima should not be the only one to enjoy!"

Yachi narrowed her eyes at the two upperclassmen. "You're going to make fun of Hinata for wearing a female school uniform, aren't you?"

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.

.

Hinata and Tsukishima were halfway done with the English lesson when they heard a ruckus happening outside class 1-4.

"Seriously," Hinata could no longer focus on the lesson. "What's happening outside?"

They both glanced at the doorway and saw a glimpse of two boys being pulled away by a girl.

"Tanaka-san, Noya-san, stop!" Yachi tried with all her strength to keep the two second-years away from the homeroom, but to no avail.

"No way we're gonna miss this." Tanaka had his cell phone ready in his hand. "Hinata! Come out here!"

"Eh?" both Hinata and Tsukishima were frozen, dumbfounded.

"Tanaka-senpai and Noya-senpai?" Hinata's eyes were wide with shock.

"Hinata! Why are you in Tsukishima's classroom?" Nishinoya said out loud. "Are you wearing a female school uniform?"

Hinata's cheeks burned red from embarrassment. She was hoping that her seniors would be more civilized and hold the topic about her uniform until club time when there are only the team members around, but some guys are just not patient enough to wait for the perfect time to insult their friends.

_**They're here to laugh at me, huh…**_

"Don't bully Hinata!" Yachi pleaded.

"Are they seriously this pathetic?" Tsukishima deadpanned. He massaged his temples to ease himself of the headache, that was, his two senpais.

"Hinata, just go out and shut them up."

Hinata glanced at the tall middle blocker with teary eyes and quivering lips. "I-I don't wanna go out there…"

Tsukishima maintained a straight face despite the deep urge to pull out his phone and take a picture of her. "If you won't come out, they will come in."

"B-but…"

Tsukishima sighed. "Just tell them that Sawamura-san will hear about this later on."

Hinata somehow thought that it was a clever suggestion, so she stood up from her seat and reluctantly approached the doorway.

.

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.

"Oi, Hinata, have you finally decided to – " Nishinoya was about to start making playful remarks at Hinata, when the cutest thing in the world suddenly appeared at the doorway of class 1-4. A lovely girl who was more or less an inch shorter than him appeared the way the sun comes out of hiding from the back of the storm clouds.

" – come out?"

The libero gaped at the adorable creature before him. They did not expect this at all.

_**What the f-?**_

"Hinata..?"

Hinata stood at the doorway, with her arms trying to cover herself from embarrassment and her cheeks rosy red as she shyly stuttered. "S-s-sawamura-san will h-h-hear ab-b-bout this…"

"Huh?" Tanaka was so stunned, he had already forgotten about taking pictures of his kouhai in female school uniform.

Hinata huffed, and when she managed to gather enough courage, she said, "I'll tell Sawamura-san that you're bullying me, your underclassman!"

The two senpais did not respond to her threat at all. They simply stood there, frozen, as if an angel had appeared in front of them.

Well, that's not far from what they were seeing.

_**Holy crap,**_ Nishinoya thought. _**Even Hinata's supposedly nervous look is very cute!**_

Tanaka on the other hand, instinctively backed off. This guy was totally unprepared to see such an unusual form of beauty. "O-oi…Noya…"

"We need to retreat, Ryu!" Nishinoya ran away at full speed.

"W-wait for me!" Tanaka swiftly went after him.

Both guys sped away like a pair of torpedoes going the wrong way, passing through the wide berth given by all the freshmen at the hallway who were scared to even accidentally bump into them. Hinata and Yachi watched the two upperclassmen leave the floor in the blink of an eye.

"I did not scare them away, did I?" Hinata asked.

Yachi answered her with a shrug, "I have no idea, honestly."

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When Nishinoya and Tanaka arrived at the gymnasium, they were faced with an angry trio of seniors: Sawamura, Sugawara, and Azumane.

"W-what's going on?" Nishinoya looked at each of the three senpais. They all have the same angry look as when they have punished Kageyama last week.

"I've heard from Yachi." Sawamura said in a dark tone.

"You two have ventured into the first year classrooms in search of Hinata?"

Tanaka had the most awkward smile on his face. "W-we're not doing anything wrong, senpai!"

"Oh, really?" Sugawara's toothy grin had a hint of wickedness in it. "I heard you were planning to take pictures of Hinata while she's in her female school uniform."

The two second-years shuddered. They have never seen the third years look this angry before. Beads of sweat ran down Nishinoya's forehead as he resorted to seeking the support of the senpai Azumane Asahi, who was probably the mildest of them three.

"A-asahi! Calm them down!" Noya pleaded.

"Sorry," Asahi replied coldly, "but whoever harasses Hinata is going to get punished. That has been the rule ever since."

"What rule?" Noya and Tanaka asked in unison. Both of them were definitely puzzled. Just who on earth made a rule that protects Hinata?

.

.

.

"Who on earth made a rule about protecting Hinata?" Tsukishima asked. He and Yamaguchi were taking the volleyball gear out of the storage room while watching Nishinoya and Tanaka, who were in sheer agony because of the third years' punishment to them.

"I heard Shimizu-san and Yachi-san conversed something about women's rights to Coach Ukai and the third years last week." Yamaguchi said.

Tsukki scowled. "Women's rights? What for? Hinata's a guy, the entire team knows that."

Yamaguchi shrugged. "But they can't help it. Hinata has this…_**strange charm**_…ever since the transformation. I guess they're only trying to keep the boys out of trouble."

"Strange charm?" Tsukishima arched his eyebrows in wonder.

Yamaguchi nodded. "Yes. Everyone gets affected by it, especially the guys," he gave his friend a suggestive smile afterwards.

"Even _**you**_ are affected by it, Tsukki."

"What?" Tsukishima's eyes were wide with surprise. For a moment he gave Yamaguchi an incredulous look. But the tall middle blocker gave a short laugh afterwards.

"Yamaguchi, I never thought you could make such a funny joke." he said.

Yamaguchi knew better than to press his friend any further. "I'm glad you find it hilarious."

But he was not joking at all.

.

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"Kageyama! Let's race to the gym!"

It has always been a tradition of the oddball duo to have a race – be it first to get to the gym, or the first to take a bath, or the first to enter the volleyball court – they would always compete against each other.

That afternoon, however, both seemed to be in contrasting moods. Hinata was cheerful and lively as always, but Kageyama was unusually quiet.

"Kageyama?" Hinata glanced upon the tall, raven-haired guy. "Are you all right?"

Kageyama did not even look at her in the eyes as they walked together. "Yeah, I'm fine. How did the study go?"

"It went well!" Hinata grinned. "I almost lost hope in learning English, but I did not know Glasses could be so good at teaching."

Kageyama frowned at her. "Whenever he was teaching us during club time, you always complained about how much of a jerk he was."

Hinata shrugged. "I guess he's in a good mood during lunch time."

_**I don't think so,**_ Kageyama thought.

"The King and Queen are here." Tsukishima shouted when the oddball duo arrived at the gymnasium.

Hinata looked at the tall middle blocker in wonder. Kageyama, on the other hand, was blushing madly as he spoke angrily, "Shut up."

Hinata, not understanding Tsukishima's metaphor, asked the raven-haired setter. "What's he talking about?"

"Nothing." Kageyama was glad of the gingerhead's naïveté.

"Ooh, Hinata, you're practicing with us?" Suga spoke happily.

"Of course I'm practicing!" Hinata replied with a quick nod. She then noticed Nishinoya and Tanaka in one corner of the gym.

"What happened to Tanaka-senpai and Noya-senpai?"

"Don't mind them!" Sugawara said a bit too cheerfully.

"Let's begin our training!"

"Osu!"

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**There you go. Sorry for the late update. I hope you don't mind the errors in grammar and whatnot.**

**00JellaNilzzZ: thanks for the review. Gosh, the word 'peals' was a total error. I probably mixed up its meaning with some other word. To avoid misunderstanding, I replaced it with the word 'beads'. As for the quotation marks…hehe, I tried to edit them, although I believe I missed a lot of those awkward-looking quotations you've mentioned in your review. **

**Note to readers: please leave a review. I'd love to hear your suggestions.**


	4. Chapter 4

**EDITED (8/23/2014)**

**Hello! I'm thankful for the follows and favorites, as well as the very helpful reviews.**

**NOTE: as I'm saying, I'll try to stick to the original plot as much as I can, but since this is a reverse harem, there might be some changes.**

**Oh, for those who are wondering who will be involved in this reverse harem…nope, I won't tell anything!**

**BTW Chapter 4 is HERE!**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 4: Asking for a Girl's Hand**

"Here we are."

"Sawamura, are you sure?"

"The address says so. I think this is the place."

"Hell yeah! Let's go inside!"

"…Shouldn't we ring the bell first, Tanaka-senpai?"

"What for? It's Hinata's house!"

"That's exactly why we should ring the bell first!"

It was a chilly, Friday evening when the members of Karasuno High Men's Volleyball Club: Sawamura, Sugawara, Azumane, Tanaka, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, Kageyama and Nishinoya, stepped in front of the Hinata residence. With their tense posture and the awkward look in their faces, they looked like a team of suitors who were about to woo a lady which, in this case, was the ex-man and teammate, Hinata Shouyou.

So how on earth did this happen?

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Just Wednesday of the same week, Hinata spoke to the captain about their upcoming Tokyo trip.

"I know it's too early for me to think of this as a problem, but…" Hinata said in a worried tone.

"…I don't think I can come to Tokyo, senpai."

Sawamura was appalled by this announcement. Of all the members, Hinata was the one most excited about the journey.

"What? Why?"

Hinata scratched her head, not knowing how to explain everything to the captain.

"Uh…well…it's my parents…"

Each of the members of the team were handed a letter to be given to their parents, as a means of asking permission to go to Tokyo for the practice matches. Problem was, Hinata's parents were afraid of allowing their 'daughter' to go out on a trip 'together with so many boys'.

"So that's your problem…" Sawamura smiled awkwardly. He felt bad for the ginger-haired underclassman.

Hinata gave a nervous laugh, "My parents are kinda weird, that's for sure. If I've been a guy, they would totally let me go to Tokyo with the rest of the team…" She then frowned and spoke in a sulky tone.

"I hope I can convince them to allow me."

"Hmm…" Sawamura looked up and stroked his chin as he thought of a plan.

.

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.

"So that's why we're here?" Kageyama asked, in a slightly annoyed tone. _**How come Hinata hadn't told me about this?**_

Sawamura took a step forward and rang the bell once. He waited silently afterwards.

"I wonder if Hinata's already home?" Nishinoya asked in a concerned tone. Hinata had left the gym earlier so that she could prepare for her teammates' visit. The libero wondered if the orange-haired decoy managed to come home safely.

"I don't get it," said Tsukishima, "you're only going to convince Hinata's parents to allow…" he was getting frustrated as to what to call the ginger-haired shrimp.

"…_**him**_…to go to Tokyo. Why do we all have to be here?"

Sugawara glanced at the tall blonde and gave him a smile.

"We have to prove Hinata's parents that we are all good boys." He said vaguely.

They waited for at least a minute outside the house, until the door opened and Hinata Shouyou appeared. She was wearing a long-sleeved white sweater, a pair of shorts, knee-high socks and fluffy blue slippers. She looked just like a younger sister waiting for her onii-chan to come home.

"Come in!" Hinata said cheerfully. Her suitors, I mean, team mates, came into her house.

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The Hinata residence was a simple, Japanese-style house, just like most of the other houses in the prefecture. Inside it was surprisingly spacious and very cozy. The boys came in and removed their shoes, leaving them neatly aligned at the entryway before following Hinata through a short corridor.

"Come into the living room for a while," Hinata said, "we're halfway done preparing dinner."

"Y-you can cook?" Kageyama asked, interested.

Hinata abruptly shook her head as she quickly spoke, "No, I'm only helping with the preparations! My mother does the cooking…"

"Hinata? Is that you and your teammates?" her mother's voice was heard all the way from the kitchen.

"Sorry for inconvenience!" The volleyball team members apologized politely.

The first person to meet the volleyball team was Hinata Shouyou's six-year-old little sister, Hinata Natsu. If Shouyou was a shrimp, Natsu was a munchkin. Natsu sat at the low table in the living room, playing with a stuffed toy. She looked upon the boys with big, brown eyes.

"Have a seat," Hinata said as she waved them over to the sofa, "I'll go help my mother in the kitchen for a while."

She walked into the kitchen afterwards, leaving the rest of the volleyball team with her little sister.

The boys stayed in the living room, feeling slightly awkward, especially when Natsu stopped playing with her toy and took a long glance at them.

The little girl eyed the guys one by one. Her big brown eyes, which frighteningly resembled Hinata's finally stopped to take a long look at Nishinoya.

"Are you…onee-chan's boyfriend?" she asked the libero all of a sudden.

"Eh?" Nishinoya fell silent for a moment, taken aback by the question.

_**This girl's asking if I'm Shouyou's boyfriend?**_ Noya's face went red.

"N-no, I'm not!" the libero shook his head frantically in denial.

"Oh." Natsu then turned to face Kageyama.

"Are you onee-chan's boyfriend?"

It was the raven-haired setter's turn to blush.

"N-no way in hell!" he said defensively.

"How about you, onii-chan?" Natsu's eyes drifted to Tsukishima.

It took a while before the tall middle blocker gave his blunt answer.

"Not gonna happen." He said in an even tone.

The mini-ginger then stared at Yamaguchi, Sugawara, Sawamura and Asahi, who all shook their heads to say no.

"Honestly, I'd be mistaken for a dirty old man if I hit on someone like your sibling." Asahi said.

Natsu nodded in agreement, which made Karasuno's ace give a melancholy smile (_**She agrees with me? So I do look like a D.O.M.?**_ Asahi thought in horror) in return. She lastly stared at Tanaka.

He looked at her anxiously; he was expecting to be asked as well.

Strangely enough, the little girl left the living room all of a sudden, without even a glance at the monk-haired second year.

"Eh?" Tanaka was totally dumbstruck because he got ignored.

"She did not ask Tanaka-senpai…" Yamaguchi observed.

Tsukishima smiled smugly. "Apparently, she believes that Hinata wouldn't even think of having Tanaka-senpai as a boyfriend."

Boy, Glasses's remark hit home. Straight in Tanaka's heart, like a huge, poisoned arrow. Tsukishima just poured acidic venom on his senpai's gaping heart wound and placed hooks on its edges to keep it from closing.

Tanaka fell silent, frozen in shock and humiliation. Of course, the other members sought to ease him of his sadness.

"Tanaka, don't take it too hard!" Sawamura patted the second-year wing spiker on the back to comfort him.

"The captain's right, Ryu!" Nishinoya consoled his friend.

"Don't let a little girl's judgment about who's the perfect guy for her sister get into you!"

"O-okay…" Tanaka still looked upset.

When Hinata returned to the living room, she was carrying a plate of biscuits and glasses filled with iced tea on a tray. She placed them one by one on the low table.

"Mother cooked a lot tonight," Hinata said, "but for the meantime have some iced tea and biscuits." She noticed the hysterical face of Tanaka.

"What's wrong, senpai?"

"He's fine! Don't worry about him, Hinata." Sugawara said with a fake smile.

"Are you sure? Tanaka-senpai looks sick…"

"He's all right," Sawamura spoke.

"Is that so?" Hinata frowned at the captain.

"I'm really sorry for troubling all of you, by the way."

Silence covered the entire living room like a heavy blanket. They guys looked at Hinata, who felt bad for having to ask them come to her house just to convince her parents about the trip to Tokyo.

Nishinoya was the first to break the silence, "What are you talking about? I already said you're coming to Tokyo with us no matter what, right?"

The gingerhead stared at the libero with surprised brown eyes.

"Well…if anything…we'd have a pretty good dinner, at least."

Hinata was much surprised when Tsukishima spoke. Did Glasses just make an effort to comfort her?

Kageyama was not to be outshined, of course. "But you have to train harder in return," he said, before looking away.

Hinata's face finally brightened up when Sawamura added, "See? We're fine with this. We want to train in Tokyo together with you."

Hinata nodded, "Osu!"

"Shou-chan! Dinner's served." said Hinata's mother.

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.

.

Karasuno Volleyball Team, along with the rest of the Hinata family, sat around the long table at the modest-looking dining area. Anyone who would look at the food served on the table of the Hinata family would think that there was a feast going on. It was a balanced meal of grilled mackerel, Nikujaga (meat and potato stew), Sunomono (cucumber salad), miso soup and brown rice.

"Woah…" the boys' mouths almost watered at the sight.

Hinata's mother smiled. "What are you boys waiting for?"

"THANKS FOR THE MEAL!" the volleyball team said in unison, thanking their gracious hosts before chomping down.

"The food's great!" Nishinoya said enthusiastically after tasting the mackerel.

"Really?" Hinata smiled, looking more excited than she usually did. "I'm glad you like it, Noya-san!"

"Onee-chan cooked the fish," said Natsu happily, "and most of the other dishes."

All of the guys stared at Hinata, whose cheeks glowed bright rosy color.

"I…I didn't do much, really." She said shyly.

"Oh, stop denying your talent in cooking." Suga said with a grin.

"How about this," Sawamura spoke suggestively, "Hinata, if we lose one of the practice matches, you'll be cooking dinner for everyone."

"T-that's not fair, captain!" Hinata pouted her lips as she complained.

Sawamura chuckled softly as he spoke, "I'm just kidding, Hinata!"

The rest of the team laughed with the captain, and soon even Hinata's mother and sister were laughing with them.

All that time, Hinata's parents watched their son, erm, daughter, as she shared lively conversations with the loud young men of the volleyball team she was in. Yes, Hinata Shouyou's parents still remember that Shouyou's a guy magically transformed into a girl, but point is, all daughters are meant to be protected from the deadliest species of predators in the world - the boys.

_**So far, so good,**_ thought Hinata's father as he eyed the boys one by one.

_**The captain looks like a decent man, the adult-looking one has the personality of a saint, and the silver-haired lad seems trustworthy as well…but the younger ones are…**_

His eyes drifted to the first and second year boys.

_**Hmm…the short one and the bald one are quite the rowdy pair… the megane blonde with his minion, on the other hand, are kind of bullies...Sho-chan must be wary around them…that black-haired kid, meanwhile…**_he frowned at Kageyama. The raven-haired setter had not spoken much since they came into the Hinata family's house.

…_**Is he always that tense?**_

"Kageyama?" Hinata glanced at her oddball duo partner. The freshman setter had been eating quietly all that time, not even throwing an angry retort or an insult to anyone, not even to Hinata or Tsukishima.

"Huh?" Kageyama seemed dazed, as if he had just woken up from a dream.

Hinata frowned, worried.

"Is there a problem with the food?" she asked.

Staring at her big brown eyes, Kageyama went still for a moment. He had been silent all that time because frustration has been eating him alive, ever since Hinata became a girl.

Yep, it's not easy to behave like a normal, healthy boy if you can't stop wondering why you don't like seeing your gender-bended friend together with a bully of a teammate.

"I'm fine!" Kageyama shouted in reply. To Hinata's parents, it sounded very rude, but to Hinata Shouyou, it was a sign that the raven-haired setter was still alive and in his right mind.

"Good! I thought you're sick, just like Tanaka-san a while ago." Hinata said with a grin.

"Why would you even think that?"

"Well…you had this stupid look on your face…" Hinata tried to imitate a silent, serious-looking Kageyama, and Kageyama found it very annoying. The rest of the team, on the other hand, found it very hilarious, and they were all laughing hard. Well, Tsukishima was stifling his laugh, but then again he was the type who prefers keeping his emotions to himself.

"Stop that." Kageyama growled, but the angry look on his face was halfhearted.

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.

The Karasuno Volleyball Team went back to the living room after dinner, this time together with Hinata's father. Natsu was in Shouyou's room, as she had to go to sleep early because she had school the next morning.

Hinata's father, a not-so-tall man in his forties, sat on a cozy chair before the boys and looked at them the way an emperor would stare at a group of criminals under trial. For a man his built, his presence was strong, as if he was a seven-foot-tall berserker. His sharp eyes stared at them as if he could see their souls clearly.

Hinata, feeling the tension that her father was giving to her teammates, spoke up. "P-papa…they're here to seek permission –"

"About the Tokyo trip?" her father arched his eyebrows inquiringly. The sharp edge in his deep voice made Hinata blanch in fright.

"Y-yes…"

"Hinata-san," Sawamura was the first to speak up, being the captain and all, "we are hoping that you allow Hinata Shouyou to come with us to Tokyo."

_**He went straight to the point,**_ Hinata's father thought, amused at the captain's audacity.

"I'm not sure about that," The older man was not to give up, nevertheless, "I don't think Shou-chan should join you."

Everyone in the team, including Hinata, was horrified at this statement.

"B-but Papa!" Hinata said, aghast.

"Shou-chan, if Natsu-chan is the one in this situation, I doubt you'll allow her to go on a trip with a bunch of boys." Her father said, crossing his arms in a firm manner.

"But I'm a guy, and my teammates know it!"

"Not with that body, you're not one of the boys." Hinata's father sounded grim and worried this time.

"Sure, your teammates know who you really are. But what about those guys from the other schools that you will face? I don't think you'll be safe in Tokyo, Shou-chan."

Hinata's lips quivered as she fought the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She stared at her father stubbornly as she clenched her fists to keep herself from crying.

"I want to go to Tokyo and play volleyball!" she blurted out.

Nevertheless, her father was just as stubborn as her. He gave her a defiant look, and his eyes stared at her, telling her that his decision was final.

"This is for your own safety, Shou-chan…"

"Ah," Sugawara smiled, "I see what Hinata-san is worried about now."

Father and daughter glanced at the silver-haired setter, puzzled.

"But do not worry, Hinata-san," Suga said confidently, "We've been keeping the boys of the team, as well as those of the other clubs, from getting any close to your daughter. Rest assured, sir, Hinata will be well-guarded when we go to Tokyo."

Hinata's face creased as she had no idea how to react to what her senpai had said.

"Well-guarded…"

"I feel better now that you have said that!" Hinata's father exclaimed. His aura suddenly became lighter, and warm as the sunlight. It was exactly the same as that of his daughter Shouyou.

"That's what every father worries about, you know? Seeing his daughter leave, worrying that when she comes back, she's already with a boy who would ask for her hand in marriage…" a thought suddenly came into his mind.

"I hope none of you will do that to me."

It took a moment for the boys to understand what Hinata's father said, and when they did, all of their faces went scarlet. Even the seniors blushed at the idea that they will ask for Hinata's hand someday.

"N-no sir!" they said in unison.

"Papa, stop kidding around," Hinata said with a hopeful smile, "So you're allowing me to go to Tokyo, right? Right?"

Hinata-san heaved a sigh, "Yes, I'm allowing you to go. But…" he raised a finger as he said one condition.

"Promise me you won't go out on a date with any guy when you get to Tokyo, Shou-chan."

"Papa!" Hinata shouted. Her entire face was red in embarrassment.

"Like hell I'm going to – "

"Promise me, or I won't allow you." Hinata-san had a stubborn pout on his face.

His daughter finally sighed in defeat.

"Fine," she said, "it's not like someone's gonna ask me out, anyway."

Boy, if only she knew.

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**Haha, sorry for the late update.**

**00JellaNizzZ-chan, I tried hard to do as you say, but I don't think I totally pulled it off. But I tried hard to correct my quotation marks. Oh, and I edited the previous chapter and worked on the flaws you've seen and mentioned in you review, but I think I missed a lot of those erroneous parts. Again, thank you for your critique.**

**To everyone: Review?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Edited: (8/28/2014)**

**Hello fellow authors who love Haikyuu and harem! Chapter five is here!**

**From this point on, the story will more or less stray from Haikyuu's original plotline. So I've made changes in the timeline, because this story was written, assuming that the universe has gone awry and Hinata did become a girl.**

**If you've read the manga, you'll easily know the difference anyway.**

**So yeah, this is the chapter you've been waiting for (or so I thought), the chapter where Karasuno joins the training camp in Tokyo! Now KenHina, KuroHina (KuroHina is legit, right? If not…I'll make it legit!), and maybe other Hina ships are about to set sail!**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 5: From Tohoku with Love**

The day of the ordeal has arrived.

The pressure that Hinata Shouyou felt was greater that morning than when she first played in an official match. That was due to the fact that her body does most of the work in a volleyball match.

But the mock exams? Hell no.

While her jumping ability and superb reflexes are high, Hinata was, unfortunately, not blessed with brains that can work on something else other than volleyball.

And when the mock exams became a threat to her chance of playing the practice matches in Tokyo (not that she had high hopes for playing, not in her current gender anyway), she really exerted more than a hundred percent of effort just to get a decent grade. She asked help from Yachi, who lent her neat looking notes to review on. She also begged (yes, Hinata admits it) for Tsukishima to tutor her, and Glasses-kun (much to the surprise of the rest of the team) taught her.

So, Karasuno High Men's Volleyball Team was quite assured that she, along with Kageyama, Nishinoya and Tanaka are going to pass the mock exams.

That morning of the exams, though, Hinata felt otherwise.

She went to school riding her bike just like what she routinely does every day, only that today she almost fell off her bike thrice for overthinking about the upcoming tests.

It was a good thing that Nishinoya accidentally met his kouhai along the way. He had seen Hinata riding her bike thoughtlessly, almost tumbling in the middle of the road because she did not notice a pothole gaping ahead, like a mouth of a predator waiting an unsuspecting prey.

Nishinoya immediately noticed the sullen look in his ginger-haired underclassman. Understanding that what she was feeling was only apprehension for the mock test, the libero decided to try helping her cheer up.

"Shouyou!" Nishinoya ran to Hinata, who gripped the brakes of her bike and came into a halt upon hearing the sound of his voice.

"Noya-san!" the gingerhead was surprised to see her senpai early in the morning.

Nishinoya gave his very bright and inspiring grin to her as he greeted, "Good morning!"

"G-good morning." Hinata raised an eyebrow in wonder.

"Noya-san, did something happen? You're so energetic today. You're not excited about the mock test, are you?"

"What? No!" Nishinoya laughed. "I'm way more excited to go to Tokyo. How about you?"

"Of course I'm excited too!" Hinata blurted out, but a thought suddenly occurred to her which made her frown.

Noya easily noticed the change in her expression. And why not? He had been taking in every single detail of her face ever since the day she became a girl.

"What's wrong, Shouyou?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

Hinata got off her bike, ushering it as she began to walk with the Guardian Deity to school. Her steps were slow, and her eyes were downcast as she pondered for the right words to say.

"If I pass the mock exam, I will go to Tokyo," she spoke softly, "and we will play against Nekoma again. But I'm a girl now. I doubt that I can enter the court with you guys…"

Just the thought of coming to Tokyo only to end up watching the _Battle at the Trash Heap_ at the bench area – all because she became a girl – stung Hinata. Nishinoya, however, felt worse: he felt that the sadness she was experiencing was his entire fault.

Unconsciously, he held one of her hands, which was still holding the handle of her bike. Her skin felt soft and warm in his gentle but firm clasp.

"Eh?" Hinata glanced at her senpai in wonder.

"Noya-san, why are you holding my hand?"

"What – oh!" Nishinoya jumped back, surprised at his own action. His face quickly changed color, turning into deep red.

"S-sorry!" he blurted out, definitely embarrassed. "I-I did not mean to do anything wrong, Hinata!"

"What?" Hinata giggled. The tinkling sound of her laughter, along with her sunny smile, made the Guardian Deity blush even harder, although his face could not get any redder already.

"W-why are you laughing, Hinata?" Nishinoya was flustered at her reaction.

"Nothing," Hinata answered, "I just find it strange that the cool Noya-san would suddenly become a softie."

"Softie?" Nishinoya pouted, slightly offended for some reason.

"What do you mean, I've become a softie?"

"Maybe we should buy ice cream after the exams!"

"That's a great idea…hey, why are you changing the topic?"

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The mock exams had been the trial of the year for many a club member. Those who are members of sports clubs were the ones who suffered the most: a day of supplementary lessons meant losing a day to practice. And in every sport, one day of practice missed can make or break your athletic career.

The volleyball team was no exception, and so they did every single preparation just to make sure the mock exams won't get in their way to training in Tokyo. After a harsh tutorial, they were hoping that their four…how shall I put it…most gullible…members – Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka – shall pass the test.

Tsk. Too bad.

"What? Hinata failed English…? What about all the confidence she had…?!"

"Apparently, he didn't notice that his answers were one space off until the test was practically over."

"You're kidding! There's no way the English teacher Ono-sensei would overlook something like that!"

"It was a huge shock to Yachi-san, too."

When the members of the volleyball team had gathered in the club room, they have found out the horrendous result of the mock exam. Much to their über-shock, Hinata had failed English, of all subjects. She only got 21 points, although technically she could have gotten something higher, if not perfect score. Just because of a single space missed.

"For Kageyama, it's Contemporary Lit, huh…" Sawamura spoke sympathetically as he stared at Kageyama's test paper.

"There seemed to be a lot of random reading comprehension questions this time," Ennoshita Chikara said, "and he focused on the same memorization method as Nishinoya, so…"

"Woah, he got full points on Kanji! Amazing…" Asahi somehow gushed. Nevertheless, the raven-haired setter only got 38 points.

Hence, their efforts were…slightly futile.

"Don't feel too bad about it." Sugawara spoke consolingly to his kouhais.

"There'll be other trips, you know…"

"…_**We'll get to Tokyo one way or another**_."

Suga jolted upon hearing the menacing tone of the two overdetermined underclassmen.

"You gonna run?" Kageyama spoke in a harsh tone.

"Bike, of course." Hinata growled under her breath.

_**They're still planning to go?**_ Sugawara thought. He was not sure whether he should be amazed at their eagerness or be scared instead.

Tanaka, on the other hand, had an idea in his mind. It was not what you'd call a good one, but it was definitely effective. Being the 'kind' senpai that he always was, he decided to give it a try. He stood before the oddball duo and finally spoke up.

"Oi. Listen up." He said with arms crossed.

The oddball duo looked upon the bald headed wing spiker.

"You guys each failed only one subject, right?" Tanaka said. "In that case, supplementary class should only last through the morning. And then…"

There was a strange smile that played on Tanaka's lips. It was a combination of a sadistic and nervous smile. What that kind of smile meant, no one has any idea, but apparently the second-year spiker had some sort of plan.

"I'll call in your savior."

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"Ooooh!"

"That's…could that be…Tokyo Skytree?!" Tanaka blurted out in amazement

The most awaited day by the members of Karasuno Volleyball Club has finally arrived. It was the day when they were going to have a joint practice match against Nekoma High and the rest of the Fukurodani Academy Group, better known as the City Boy Alliance.

"No, that's just a normal steel tower," said the vice captain of Nekoma High, Kai Nobuyuki.

Hearing this, the captain of Nekoma High volleyball team, Tetsurou Kuroo, could not suppress a loud laugh.

"Buahahahahaha!" the bed-haired senior guffawed so hard that his stomach hurt.

It was Nekoma High that welcomed Karasuno when the team arrived in Tokyo. It was early in the morning, and while the second-years were already overexcited, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were still sleepy after the long travel by bus.

"Hey, by the way," Kuroo spoke to Sawamura, who seemed uneasy around him.

"Aren't you missing some people?"

"Well, the thing is…" Sawamura explained the situation of the oddball duo, the fact that Kageyama and Hinata could not come with them that morning.

"Huh." Kuroo spoke as he walked with Sawamura. "So that superhuman combo is taking supplementary lessons right about now?"

"Yeah," Sawamura answered nervously. He still had not told the other captain about Hinata's condition.

"But, well…"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by an annoyingly loud cry of disbelief that could only come from Nekoma's Mohawk-haired wing spiker, Yamamoto Taketora.

"HOOOOH!" Yamamoto was on his knees, awe-inspired by what he was seeing.

"T-th-the girls have multiplied! Now there's a pretty one and a cute one!"

Shimizu, being the senior, kept Yachi behind her, like a mother protecting her young from a nearby predator.

Tanaka smirked at Yamamoto. "Take a good look, Tora…"

The bald haired second year stood in front of Karasuno's two managers, arms raised and his face carrying a placid look, which was almost monk-like.

"This is the sanctity of Karasuno."

"Kuh! So bright!" Yamamoto had to close his eyes in awe.

"Let's go." Shimizu was already pulling Yachi away from the two idiots.

"Well, head over to the gymnasium as soon as you're all set." Kuroo smirked at the members of Karasuno.

"The rest are already gathering there."

"Got it." Sawamura answered in a serious tone.

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At that time, somewhere in Miyagi prefecture, Hinata and Kageyama were determined to get over with their supplementary lessons.

"Oho, what's this!" the female teacher was amazed at their willingness to study.

"You two are unusually earnest!"

The eagerness to finish the lessons came from Hinata and Kageyama's strong belief that they will still make it to Tokyo on time.

All because Tanaka-senpai has given them a ray of hope. Some sort of 'savior'.

Thus, the moment they were done with their lessons, the oddball duo sped out of the classroom and rushed downstairs to Karasuno High's front entrance, where a Honda mini truck awaited them.

"Hey there."

Standing before them was a blond-haired punk chick wearing a dark tank top, tight-fitting jeans, and a pair of heeled leather boots.

"Hop in." she said, pointing a thumb at the truck.

Hinata could not believe her eyes. "A-are you Tanaka-san's sister?"

"Just call me Saeko-neesan." The punk chick said with a flirty wink.

"I'll deliver ya to Tokyo faster than you can blink."

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Sawamura looked more distraught as the team entered the huge gym. Part of his distress was due to the three other teams (aside from Nekoma) that they were about to train with: Shinzen Private Highschool, Ubugawa, and the team that had been Tokyo's champion, Fukurodani Academy.

But the bigger problem for Karasuno's captain was how to tell Nekoma that Hinata Shouyou would not be around today.

"Huh…?" Kozume Kenma was baffled when he did not see Hinata around.

"Where's Shouyou?"

"They said he's got supplementary lessons." Yamamoto answered.

"Oh." Kenma looked somehow disappointed, not that it was obvious on his face.

Sawamura stood outside the court with Kuroo as the bed-haired captain explained everything to him.

"Once everyone's warmed up, we'll focus on rotating around so every team plays each other." Kuroo said.

"Got it." Sawamura replied, although he was only half-listening.

"Each set, the team who lost does one lap of flying falls around the court as penalty."

"Yeah…"

Kuroo glanced at Sawamura, raising an eyebrow in wonder.

"Are you sure you're gonna play? You look like you're mind's fleeting somewhere faraway." He said.

"Sorry," Sawamura apologized, "I…remembered something all of a sudden."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Hinata…he…" Sawamura scratched his head.

"He's not coming."

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The mini truck seemed as if it was a space ship taking nasty warp drive as Saeko Tanaka drove the oddball duo to Tokyo. Not that Hinata and Kageyama minded the overspeeding and reckless driving. In fact, Kageyama was sleeping peacefully at the back while Hinata was contemplating while she sat beside Saeko-neesan.

"You must be Shouyou." Saeko spoke all of a sudden, breaking the silence. Hinata glanced at her, and the punk blonde suddenly pinched the gingerhead's cheek.

"They are right. You're such a cute girl." Saeko said with a grin.

"No wonder Ryu's frustrated."

Hinata arched her eyebrows in wonder. "Tanaka-senpai?"

Saeko chuckled in amusement. "Tell me. Have any of the guys in your team made a pass on you?"

"Made a pass?" Hinata had no experience in teenage love life just yet, so she had no idea what the other girl was talking about.

"Oh, you know…has there been a guy who asked you out?"

Hinata smiled awkwardly. _**Not this issue again,**_ she thought.

"No one has ever asked you out?" Saeko gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously? Are the guys in Karasuno volleyball team blind?"

Hinata laughed to hide her discomfort. "No, they just know that I am a guy."

"So you're one of the boys?"Saeko raised an eyebrow at her. "Shouldn't that make you more appealing?"

Hinata clearly had no idea what Tanaka-senpai's elder sister was trying to say. All she knew was that Saeko totally misunderstood what she had said.

_**Oh, well. She won't believe me anyway.**_

"What do you mean?" Hinata simply asked, trying to go with the flow of the discussion.

"Some guys prefer boyish type nowadays." Saeko said vaguely.

"Alrighty. Almost there. I'm gonna floor it!"

And Hinata was slammed against the back of her seat, as the mini truck lurched forward like a rocket.

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The day was about to end, and Karasuno kept on losing. They did the flying falls for the nth time, and they were all getting exhausted.

They just lost to Fukurodani Academy, and they were doing another lap of flying falls again.

"One lap of flying falls!"

"How many losses does that make for them?"

"It's not that they're all that weak, but they're average…"

"Which one's the incredible first year that gave Nekoma a tough fight?"

Nishinoya could just hear the murmurs of the other players, from the other schools while he does flying falls with the other guys. He found them annoying, those lesser dudes who feel like their school's better.

_**Indeed, we are still weak, but that's just for now…**_

One of the annoying guys spoke.

"Maybe the Nekoma guys just overestimate t – "

There was a loud creaking sound as the doors of the gymnasium slowly opened. All the guys looked to the doorway, and saw a blond-haired rocker chick, who was grinning widely.

"Ooh, they're still at it." Saeko said with a smirk.

"Looks like we made it on time. Nicely done."

The sudden distraction gave Karasuno a temporary break from doing flying falls.

"Neesan!" Nishinoya shouted happily.

"Huh?" Asahi wondered. "Nishinoya's sister?"

"Nope. Ryu's!"

"They definitely look alike…" Suga observed.

Tanaka smiled, happy that his idea went well. "Good to see you're in one piece."

Saeko grinned at the oddball duo, who were standing behind her. All eyes widened – either in surprise or in wonder – at the arrival of a raven-haired young man, and a petite ginger-haired girl.

Hinata stepped into the gymnasium, together with Kageyama.

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There were mixed reactions about the arrival of Hinata and Kageyama. The Karasuno boys were certainly glad that the oddball duo had made it. The guys from the other schools, on the other hand, were curious…mostly at Hinata, being the cute one and all.

The members of Nekoma High were specifically in awe.

"They have another cute girl?!" Yamamoto was absolutely petrified.

Kenma on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at the ginger-haired girl. Of course, unlike Karasuno, these guys have no idea that the girl was in fact Hinata Shouyou himself. But Kenma was known to be a good observer. The moment the new girl stepped into the gym, he felt something strange was going on.

"Oh, what's this?"

Kenma drifted his eyes to his friend Kuroo, who had been eyeing the girl as well. Reading the smirk on his lips and the gleam in his eyes, the setter immediately realized something shocking.

Kuroo…is interested?

"I've been told that the shrimp one in the superhuman combo couldn't come, so I was a bit disappointed." Kuroo whispered to no one in particular.

"But…"

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When Hinata had found out what happened to Karasuno, she was somewhat horrified. She thought that if they had come to Tokyo earlier, if she and Kageyama had not flunked the mock tests, they could have done something.

_**Oh, well, time for action.**_

Without hesitation, Hinata rushed to coach Nekomata and bowed to the waist.

"Please let me play with the members of Karasuno!" she shouted pleadingly.

Her request had everyone, even the members of Karasuno volleyball team, gape their mouths wide because of shock.

"Oh, wow." Kuroo grinned from ear to ear, like a cheshire cat.

"You want to what?" Coach Nekomata was utterly surprised.

"Please!" Hinata pleaded once more.

Coach Nekomata stared at Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei, who were also stunned by the gingerhead's sudden action.

"Who on earth is this girl?" Coach Nekomata asked.

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**Hehe. I hope this chapter satisfies you for the meantime.**

**Please leave a review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Edited: (9/1/2014)**

**Hey!**

**Chapter six is here!**

**Let the ships sail into the fanfiction sea!**

**AwesomeCocoPuff: I'll give a hint on what kind of torture the third years are giving to anyone who dares to hit on Hinata. Sorry, it is anything but tickle torture (because tickle torture is too light a punishment *evil smile*).**

**00JellaNilzzZ: I hope my posts on facebook do not flood your newsfeed.**

**EminaRukiax: His name is Oikawa Tooru, the Grand King from Aoba Josai. Does anybody have a suggestion on how I should put him in my story, because I've been planning to put him in my fic for so long, I just cannot find the right place in my plot.**

**Everyone: PLEASE, LEAVE A REVIEW! (T^T)**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 6: Senpai Noticed Me (Uh-oh)**

"Who on earth is this girl?"

Coach Nekomata glared at Coach Ukai the Younger and Takeda-sensei, who both blanched in horror after seeing Hinata plead to be allowed to play in the practice match. At that time, Karasuno was playing its last game for the day with Shinzen Private Highschool. When she and Kageyama arrived from Miyagi, they were shocked to see the scores, and it ignited Hinata's utter desire to play.

"No offense, little girl, but this is men's volleyball." Coach Nekomata spoke to Hinata in a surprisingly mild tone, as if he was talking to a kid.

"But I NEED to play this practice match!" Hinata said stubbornly.

"Yes, but you see – "

"Please, Coach Nekomata!"

The old man gave the ginger-haired girl an incredulous look. He had never encountered such a persistent young person before.

"What's your name, child?" he asked, much to everyone's surprise.

Hinata looked at him in the eye as she was about to give her name.

"My name is Hinata Shou – "

"Shouko!" Takeda-sensei shouted all of a sudden. Both the gingerhead and the old man glanced at him.

"H-her name's Hinata Shouko." Takeda went on with his ruse.

"S-she's Hinata Shouyou's cousin…"

"Huh?" Hinata raised an eyebrow. Coach Ukai gave her a look that said _**'Shut up and play along'**_.

"Hinata Shouyou?" Coach Nekomata apparently remembered the name. The old man glanced around, realizing that the said Karasuno player was not around.

"Speaking of that shrimp, where is he now?"

"Err…" Takeda ran out of lies. Fortunately Ukai was there to cover things up.

"Hinata's been left in Miyagi, to train with the old geezer." Ukai spoke, his tone very believable. He had been planning to ask the Elder Ukai to train the oddball duo anyway.

"Old geezer? You mean your grandfather Ukai?" Coach Nekomata chuckled. "So he's feeling better now?"

The old man laughed heartily upon hearing the news that the older Ukai was back and has returned to his job - training volleyball players as harshly as punishing slaves. His mirthful eyes went back to Hinata, whose brown eyes were wide with wonder and hope.

"Your midget of a cousin can surely jump high. Don't tell me you can pull off his moves as well." He said.

Hinata scowled, offended because the old coach just called him midget. But she gave him a serious and determined look as she gave answered in a frank tone.

"I can do all of those moves," she said.

"And soon I will do better."

The sheer determination in her brown eyes sent shivers down Coach Nekomata's spine, as if he had been spooked by her boldness and hunger to play volleyball. In the end, the old man laughed out loud, and clapped her on the back.

"All right, little girl. You got me. Now go out and play," He said.

Everyone in the gymnasium was definitely shocked by this, but Hinata simply smiled as she bowed gratefully to the old man.

"Thank you very much!"

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"My," Kuroo smirked. He had never expected such an event to happen.

The petite ginger girl who came in with Kageyama Tobio was like a stun grenade that had just been dropped, bombing everyone in shock. Not only had she made such an entrance, she had boldly asked their coach to allow her to play alongside Karasuno in their match against Shinzen.

She got Kuroo's attention in the blink of an eye.

"Kuroo," Kenma pulled him out of his reverie. "We're having a match here."

"It's okay, there's still another set." Kuroo answered airily. His mischievous eyes never left the petite ginger-haired girl as she put on a yellow jersey over her shirt and joined the other members of Karasuno in their side of the court.

"If we lose both sets, you'll do two laps of flying falls." Kenma's voice was uncharacteristically hostile.

"I don't mind," Kuroo ignored the threat, his eyes still lingering on the other volleyball court, where the girl gathered with the boys of Karasuno.

"Kuroo!" Kenma yelled, much to everyone's surprise.

The bed-haired captain sighed, as if the practice match against Ubugawa had made him exhausted all of a sudden.

"Fine," He whined, feigning a bored expression on his face.

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"I can't believe you got to persuade Coach Nekomata, of all people!" Takeda-sensei gushed at Hinata, still amazed at what happened.

"I have to admit, I'm surprised as well." Hinata answered with a smile.

"I guess I'm lucky…"

Once geared up, she entered the court along with Kageyama, who kept on staring at her incredulously. He looked at her as if she had the power to turn water into wine.

"Hinata!" Suga gave the gingerhead a high five, grinning as he went back to the bench.

"That was FRIGGIN' AWESOME, Hinata!" Nishinoya rubbed her head, messing her hair as he praised how she had bravely spoken to Nekoma's coach. The other guys were still in shock, but deep inside, they were simply glad that Hinata would be able to play with them as a team.

"All right," Sawamura clapped his hands to gather the team.

"Let's show them what Karasuno can do."

"Osu!" the rest of them shouted in reply.

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The match between Karasuno and Shinzen had been eventful, all thanks to the superhuman oddball duo of Kageyama and Hinata. Their freakish quicks had been the crows' trump card to victory. Coach Nekomata himself was impressed. He never thought that the girl would literally mean what she said a while ago.

All throughout the game, however, Hinata noticed how quickly Shinzen had followed up to their attacks. She knew that their victory was all due to the fact that Shinzen has been taken aback by their sudden entrance, and that in their next games, Karasuno won't have such advantage anymore.

"This is the first time we won't have to do flying falls," Sawamura said. He and the rest of the team were absolutely exhausted after an entire day of playing and losing.

"I'm starved." Nishinoya panted.

"Huh, Nekoma and Ubugawa are still at it?"

"At this time, this is probably the last game for today." Tanaka said.

Hinata watched Nekoma battle it out against Ubugawa. Having played them before in Miyagi, Hinata knew almost every player on Nekoma's side, save one player who had taken Inuoka Sou's place. A lean, athletic young man, with silvery-white hair and intense green eyes.

_**It is hard to notice, but he's very tall…**_

And when Kozume Kenma set the ball to the unknown player's side, he jumped and did a strange-looking spike.

_**A whip-like motion…**_Hinata observed as she noticed the tall stranger's arm when spiking.

After the game between Nekoma and Ubugawa, the first day of practice matches between Karasuno and the City Boy Alliance came to an end.

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Hinata's problems, however, were just about to begin.

Kenma was utterly surprised to find out that Hinata Shouyou did not come to Tokyo. For all he knew, Shouyou was the one most excited to have another match against Nekoma. Kenma knew this, because they have been texting each other after the first practice match they ever had.

It was like a developing long-distance friendship going on between the two of them.

Moreover, the fact that Shouyou's 'cousin' came out of nowhere and boldly played with Karasuno somewhat bothered him. Sure, she looked just like Shouyou, and they were both lacking in the height department, but how come her movements and expressions were exactly the same as her cousin's?

_**It's as if Shouyou is residing inside that girl's body…**_

"But that's impossible, of course." Kenma murmured while he and his team mates were changing in their locker room.

"You said something?" asked Inuoka, who was changing into a clean shirt.

Kenma shook his head. "Nothing important."

Inuoka glanced at Yamamoto, who was sulking in one corner of the room. The recent events at the gym had rendered him speechless and sullen. "What's his problem?"

Yaku Morisuke folded his arms across his chest in exasperation. "He's been like that ever since he found out that Karasuno has three female managers."

Inuoka smiled awkwardly at this. "Oh."

Everyone already knew that Yamamoto was too fond of girls, and the fact that Nekoma has no female manager left him bereft and disappointed inside.

"The third girl was the most interesting, you know?" said the newest addition to their team, the half-Russian Haiba Lev.

"The tiny one surely kicked Shinzen's butt. She is amazing!"

Kenma scowled. "How come you sound very excited?"

"Well…she's cute but at the same time, she's very cool." Lev scratched his head shyly.

"I've been thinking…I wouldn't mind having a girlfriend like her."

_**Seriously…this guy's honesty is getting annoying.**_

"I think she can crush you, if you don't practice your basic moves." Kenma spoke in an uncharacteristically cold tone before fumbling in his bag to get his smartphone.

"That's so cruel, coming from you." Inuoka said.

"Oi!" Yamamoto suddenly came to life as he suddenly yelled at Lev.

"You're not planning to hit on the managers, are you? I won't allow it!"

Yaku and Inuoka were already holding the rampaging Mohawk-haired wing spiker, when someone suddenly spoke behind them.

"Indeed, I wouldn't allow it."

All eyes turned to Kuroo, who was leaning coolly against the doorway of the room. His face had the same kind of smirk, the usual carefree and mischievous expression he had always shown to everyone, but Kenma noticed a hint of steely cold glare in his eyes.

_**Jealousy?**_ Kenma wondered. He had no idea what exactly jealousy was, but knowing Kuroo for a very long time, the observant setter could only think that his friend's behaving oddly.

_**Like he wants to remove anyone who tries to get near something he owns, or he wants to own.**_

"You're not going to make a pass on any of the managers," Kuroo said in a frighteningly cool voice.

"Especially not the ginger-haired one."

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Kenma walked outside to find a quiet place to stay. Holding his smartphone in his hand, he had decided to call Shouyou. He still could not believe that the strong decoy of Karasuno would prefer not coming to Tokyo just because he had to train with Ukai the Elder.

This calls for a straightforward talk.

Finding Hinata in his list of contacts, he selected it and pressed the phone against his ear as he heard a ringing sound, followed by a sound of someone answering.

"Hello?" a female voice spoke, much to Kenma's surprise.

"Who is this?" he asked in bewilderment.

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_**Oh, damn it!**_

Hinata bit her lip at her own stupidity. She had just finished changing (she was forced into a separate locker room by Yachi and Shimizu when she was about to enter the boys' room) when she heard her cellphone ring. Instinctively, she answered it, not even bothering to read the name of the caller.

"Hello?" she said.

"Who is this?" she heard Kenma spoke, and she realized the mistake she'd done.

Hinata could not suppress slapping her forehead with her palm for being so stupid. Of course, Kenma would wonder why she wasn't around. She just did not expect him to call. Worse, she did not remember that it was her 'cousin' who owned the phone, not her.

To make matters worse, she heard Kageyama come in.

"Hinata, how long are you gonna stay there?" he spoke exasperatedly.

"Ssh." Hinata pressed a finger against her lips to tell him to shut up.

"Is that…Kageyama?" Kenma kept asking on the other line.

In the end, Hinata quickly dropped the line and threw the phone back into her bag. Kageyama gave her a puzzled look, now knowing why she looked nonplussed.

"Kenma called," Hinata said, her face pale in horror, "and I _**answered**_ it."

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"Idiot." Kageyama grunted. That was all he could say. Then again, he had his own fault in the matter as well: if he hadn't been so loud, Kenma wouldn't confirm that the female Hinata has "Shouyou's" phone.

"Did he ask anything?"

"He asked me who I am, of course." Hinata answered. "I did not say anything."

"Good." Kageyama sighed. "Let's just say your cousin Shouyou lent you his phone or something."

Hinata nodded in agreement. The alibi made sense, and was very believable. Relieved that Kenma's phone call was not much of a big deal, she could not suppress heaving a sigh.

"All right, let's go. They might have eaten your share of the dinner already." Kageyama left the room and walked to the dining area.

"EHHHH?" Hinata's face immediately shifted from worried to downright horrified.

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The dining area was a wide, sparsely decorated place with huge rectangular tables, each one enough to seat all the boys from the same team. There was a separate table for the ladies, and not surprisingly, Hinata had to sit with them.

Kenma came into the dining area where the rest of the people have gathered. He looked slightly mystified.

"Something wrong?" Kuroo asked as he moved aside to give his friend a space around Nekoma's table.

"I tried to call Shouyou on the phone," Kenma said. His wide, golden eyes drifted to where the girls were seated. Hinata Shouko was among them, looking strangely uneasy.

"_**She**_ answered the call."

"Huh?" Kuroo followed his gaze, and smiled when he saw the petite, ginger-haired girl.

"You mean she has her cousin's phone?"

Kenma nodded. "I wonder why…"

Kuroo, on the other hand, found the situation less perplexing. If anything, he thought it was something that he could use to his own advantage.

"Mind if I have Shouyou's number?" he asked all of a sudden. He tried to sound idle, even innocent, but his face revealed his ulterior motive right away.

Kenma glowered at the captain of Nekoma. "No."

Kuroo pouted in annoyance. "And to think that we're close friends…"

"We're not close enough as to be sharing other people's phone numbers simply because we find their cousins cute."

"Tch," Kuroo grunted. "So coldhearted."

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If Hinata was in her male form, she would have had the happiest moment in his teenage life: surrounded by a lot of pretty girls, in a huge table laden with delicious food, no annoying dude to insult him.

Unfortunately, she was a girl – exactly just like them, if not prettier.

Talk about rotten luck.

"Nee, Hina-chan." Spoke one manager from another school. "You did a great job showing those boys who's the boss."

"Yeah," agreed another girl. "You just proved to them that girls can beat the guys in sports!"

Hinata smiled, happy to be appreciated. Nevertheless, she could not help but feel very nervous as well. She wondered how these girls would react once they found out that she was actually a guy inside a wrong body. Another reason for her discomfort was that she kept on worrying about Kenma, especially after he called her number. Knowing him, he'll probably ask her a lot of questions about Hinata Shouyou, her so-called 'cousin'.

Both Yachi and Shimizu had notice her uneasiness.

"Hinata?" Shimizu patted the gingerhead's shoulder, making her jolt in surprise.

"Y-yeah?" Hinata sounded slightly absent-minded at that time.

"Are you all right?" Shimizu frowned. Yachi on the other hand, looked at Hinata with concern.

Hinata smiled in order to hide her discomfort. "I'm fine…I guess I'm just not that hungry."

"Eat some more. We don't want to hear your stomach growl in the middle of the night."

Hinata pouted. "That sounds so mean, Shimizu-san."

Shimizu smiled, and Yachi stifled a laugh, which made Hinata raise an eyebrow in puzzlement.

"What's so funny?" Hinata asked.

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"Looks like they've found a best friend in Hinata."

Tsukishima had accidentally taken a momentary glance at the gingerhead, who sat at the table with the other girls. Thanks to Shimizu and Yachi, Hinata gradually felt comfortable with the ladies. She looked just like any other girl, happily chatting, occasionally giggling. Strangely enough, her personality was just the same as before, and her female form actually suited her behavior. It made him think that Hinata might be a girl in reality, and that Hinata's male body was actually the false form created by some sort of magic.

When he returned his attention to the people around his table, Tsukishima immediately noticed Yamaguchi smiling at him.

"What?" Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at his friend suspiciously.

"N-nothing." Yamaguchi answered, but his face told otherwise.

"Yamaguchi." The tall blonde disliked the other guy's secrecy.

"Uh…well…I just noticed." Yamaguchi smiled nervously, hoping that his remark wouldn't cost him his own life.

"You've been nice to Hinata lately, Tsukki."

"Hm?" Tsukishima arched his eyebrows, not exactly understanding what Yamaguchi meant.

"He's been less cruel to Hinata, you mean." Kageyama suddenly broke in, speaking through a mouthful of rice.

Tsukishima gave the raven-haired setter a scornful look. "Why should you care?"

"I dunno." Kageyama shrugged. "I guess we're not used to it." He swallowed his food before continuing.

"You're not becoming soft towards Hinata, are you?"

_**His words had a bit of edge on it,**_ Tsukishima thought, and he had realized that he was being mocked by Kageyama. But the question made him think twice for a moment. When Hinata had changed into a girl, he kept on saying spiteful remarks on her, just like in the past. But Tsukishima knew that most of his remarks have been more of a playful comment and less of an insult. Moreover, the shrimp had easily gotten her way with the mock tests (although the results were futile) because he complied in teaching her.

_**I don't see myself becoming soft towards her…him, rather. Hinata Shouyou is still a guy. I could never forget that fact.**_

"Let's just say I'm only being careful. The last I've heard, the third years have upgraded their torture system." Tsukishima said coldly.

Seeing Kageyama shudder at the thought of the seniors setting torture on a higher level, which reminded him of the suffering he had just a week ago, made Tsukishima smile in satisfaction.

"So you're saying that you just don't want to be punished?" Yamaguchi inquired, as if he was looking for another answer from the tall middle blocker.

"Why else would I be 'nice' to Hinata?" Tsukishima replied. His eyes then drifted to the other tables, looking at the other teams just to place his attention elsewhere.

However, he did not like what he saw at the table of Nekoma High.

His fingers twitched almost of its own accord when he saw Kuroo eyeing someone at the girls' table. He needed not to follow the third year middle blocker's eyesight to know who he had been staring at.

It could only be Hinata, Tsukishima thought, and he observed how intense the tall bed-haired middle blocker was when looking at the little gingerhead. At first he found it strange, but Tsukishima then noticed, after deeply focusing on those sly cat eyes, a combination of curiosity and desire.

It was then that he understood that Kuroo was totally smitten with Hinata.

_**What the hell?**_ was the first thing that came into Tsukishima's mind, something which he certainly did not voice out. But the look on his face totally gave him away, and so Yamaguchi could not help but ask him.

"What's wrong, Tsukki?"

Tsukishima looked back at his friend. "Nothing."

Truth be told, Tsukishima was thinking very deeply, worrying that he might get into the same situation as Kuroo.

_**If Hinata has the power to wrap someone like Kuroo around her little finger, there is a good chance that she can attract others – is this what Yamaguchi meant when he said that the seniors are protecting her in order to keep the boys from trouble?**_

And then he asked himself again: _**Am I getting soft towards Hinata Shouyou?**_

Realizing that Yamaguchi and Kageyama might be correct, Tsukishima had decided to make sure that he will not let a single day pass by without insulting Hinata.

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**Next chapter involves tasers (yes, TASERS!) and probably some squeal-worthy moments. And I'm probably narrowing the love connections soon, so NOMINATE A SHIP before I begin sinking some of them.**

**Sorry for the late update, I had been partying yesterday, celebrating the birthday of my husband Aomine Daiki (for all of you who haven't read my profile, I am Aomine's waifu…don't judge me!), as well as the birthday of Asuka Kazama and (okay, fine) Hatsune Miku.**

**Don't forget to leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Edited: (9/8/2014)**

**READ THIS!**

**NOTE: I HAVE EDITED CHAPTER SIX, PUTTING SOME STUFF AND REMOVING SOME STUFF. YOU MAY REREAD IT IF YOU LIKE, OR IN CASE YOU FIND THE EVENTS FRUSTRATING. AND I HAVEN'T EDITED THIS CHAPTER YET, SO PARDON ME FOR THE TYPO ERRORS AND THE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS.**

**ANOTHER NOTE: HAVE YOU NOMINATED YOUR HINA OTP? MY CANNONS ARE READY, AND I'LL SINK SOME SHIPS ANYTIME SOON. I'M ASKING THIS BECAUSE LET'S FACE IT, EVEN HAREMS HAVE A MAIN COUPLE (THE MOTHER SHIP, AS I CALL IT).**

**LAST NOTE: TELL ME YOUR SHIP (JUST 1 SHIP!) BY REVIEWING! :3**

**DOUZO!**

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**Chapter 7: Senpai Noticed Me (Uh oh) – Part 2**

"What?"

Not only did Hinata's eyes widen at what she heard. Her mouth opened of its own accord, her jaw dropping in total disbelief.

The girls looked at her, wondering if they had said something offensive.

"Aren't you coming to the bath with us?" they repeated their question to her.

Hinata swallowed hard. It was one thing to join the girls at the table for dinner, but to take a bath with them? Hinata may have turned into a girl, but her heart had always been the same.

_**I'm still a guy, for heaven's sake!**_

She gave Yachi and Shimizu a look, pleading for help. Clearly Hinata had no idea how to get out of this. Both girls, however, lacked any proper alibi to cover for her.

Disappointed that the two managers could not offer her assistance, Hinata tried to come up with something.

"Um, you girls go on ahead!" Hinata said with a fake smile. "I…I'll just take a bath later."

"Eh? But Hina-chan, the bath will close soon. You need to clean up right away." said one girl.

"And you are tired and sweaty after playing volleyball with the guys," added another.

"Come, we'll scrub you if you want!"

Hinata's cheeks flushed hard as she shook her head rapidly. "N-no! You don't have to…besides, I-I'm really not comfortable when other people see me naked…"

"You're feeling insecure about yourself?" the girls seemed incredulous.

"But Hina-chan's so pretty!"

"Right! All the guys are into you. Even Kuroo-san from Nekoma can't take his eyes off you."

Hinata could not understand what the girls were talking about, because all she wanted was to get out of the situation.

"Hinata!"

Thankfully, Sugawara came to save the day. Well, technically, evening. He smiled at Yachi and Shimizu, before patting Hinata's head gently, like an affectionate parent to his daughter.

"Shouko-chan, your cousin has called," Suga spoke without a trace of untruthfulness in his voice.

"Do you have a minute? He wants to talk to you."

Hinata nodded, relieved to leave the ladies, who reluctantly walked away to the bathroom.

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"Thanks for saving me, Suga-san," Hinata whispered happily as they walked away from the girls.

"No problem," Sugawara answered with a kind smile.

"We had promised to your father that we'll protect you while you're here."

Hinata frowned. "I'm sorry to cause you a lot of trouble…"

"No, it's okay. I kind of like the feeling of being overprotective to my little sister." Suga had toothy grin on his face.

"Little sister?" Hinata looked at her senpai, puzzled.

Sugawara chuckled softly as he gently pinched Hinata's cheek.

"Why, I'm talking about you, of course!"

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"Come again?"

Tsukishima was among the first to take a nice, warm bath that evening, but deep inside he felt messed up after hearing Sugawara's sudden request.

"I said, you go guard the men's bathroom while Hinata takes a bath." Suga spoke nonchalantly.

…_**Seriously?**_

"Why me?" Tsukishima could not help but ask.

Sugawara gave a stone cold smile. "Why not?" he answered in an unusually deadly tone.

Tsukishima however, was unfazed. "Why not ask Kageyama instead? He and Hinata get along better. Hinata and I are…" He was surprised to find his next statement somewhat stung his heart.

"We don't even like each other."

"That's exactly the point," Suga smiled. "You dislike Hinata. Then you have no problem when it comes to _**keeping an eye on her**_."

_**Oh.**_

Tsukishima had easily understood the point of his senpai, and he did not like it at all.

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"So…you're here because Sugawara-san told you to do so?"

Even if Tsukishima was simply following Sugawara's command, Hinata was nonetheless surprised to see the tall blonde actually do the task of keeping an eye on her as she went to the men's bathroom. The girls, out of their nature, took their time bathing in the women's room. Hinata had made up her mind not to join the girls during bath time (Hinata was still a dude at heart), so Sugawara decided that she secretly use the men's bathroom once all of the dudes were done.

Tsukishima leaned against the wall in the corridor, avoiding her lovely brown eyes. Ever since dinnertime, he had felt uneasy being around her. And the fact that he had to accompany her – the fact that it was just him and Hinata together – made things worse.

"Hurry up," Tsukishima spoke in utter exasperation. He was desperate to get back to the sleeping quarters, where he would be away from the adorable gingerhead.

Hinata raised an eyebrow, wondering what she had done to make the tall guy look so annoyed.

"Fine," she grumbled, before entering the bathroom and sliding the door closed.

Tsukishima heaved an exhausted sigh, and thought about random things while he kept watch for anyone who might enter the men's room. He could not listen to music at that time, for he might not hear the footsteps of anyone who might pass by. So he simply distracted himself by thinking of insults to use against Hinata for tomorrow.

For the first time in his life, Tsukishima had actually thought of something for another person.

_**I'm thinking of proper insults to give to a girl. How sweet,**_ he thought sarcastically.

Then a voice coming from around the corner of the hallway suddenly burst Tsukishima's thought bubble.

"What? You're done bathing too, Kenma?" spoke Tetsurou Kuroo.

"So the bathroom's now all mine."

Panic filled Tsukishima's entire body. Kuroo was the last person whom he hoped to encounter while Hinata was taking a bath.

In an act of instinct, he dashed into the men's bathroom.

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It was hard to tell which one of them was shocked: Hinata or Tsukishima. Either way, neither of them expected to be in the bathroom together at the same time. No way in a million years. Never in an eternity.

Tsukishima was momentarily stunned upon seeing Hinata sitting in the small pool. The steam coming from the warm bath, as well as the fact that she was immersed deep in the water made him see only her head and shoulders, but that was enough to make his face turn scarlet. Hinata's brown eyes were half-lidded by the relaxing sensation caused by the hot bath, and her skin had a pleasant, rosy pink glow.

"W-what are you doing here?" Hinata tried to cover herself in embarrassment, and Tsukishima found it strangely alluring.

_**Damn it, get moving!**_

Tsukishima composed himself. Quickly, he grabbed some towels and tossed one to Hinata.

"Kuroo's coming," the tall blonde said while helping ginger-haired girl get out of the water.

"Get out of here before he sees you."

_**God knows what that shrewd can do to you,**_ Tsukishima added, although he did not voice it out.

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Kuroo lazily trod his way towards the men's bathroom. The ace player of Fukurodani Academy, Bokuto Kotarou, had been bothering him around after dinner. It took the bedhead a long while before he could get rid of the said nuisance, and so he was very glad when he finally got the chance to plunge into the relaxing hot bath.

When he turned around the corner, however, he stopped dead in his tracks.

The tall blonde middle blocker from Karasuno – Tsukishima - sped out of the men's bathroom, holding a small person wrapped in bath towel as they ran to the other end of the hallway.

_**Judging by the build of the shorter person, it could only be the libero, or the feisty little miss who played Shinzen a while ago.**_

Kuroo scowled in total displeasure. He disliked the idea right away.

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_**What the hell am I doing?**_ Tsukishima asked himself.

He dragged Hinata away from the men's bathroom as quickly and as carefully as possible. The last thing they wanted to happen was for the other people to hear them running away from Kuroo.

"Hurry up," Tsukishima hissed, holding Hinata's hand firmly. Her skin felt moist and warm after the bath, and the tall, blonde middle blocker could not help but feel strange inside.

They almost reached the sleeping quarters of Karasuno when they met another member of Nekoma – Yamamoto Taketora, who gaped at the sight of Tsukishima with the cute ginger-haired girl. Hinata and Tsukishima skidded into a halt, shocked.

"What – " Yamamoto could not believe his eyes. His face flushed red as he saw that the girl was only wearing a towel around her slim body.

A gloved hand suddenly covered the Mohawk-haired spiker's mouth. Yamamoto struggled to set himself free, but he was struck by the electrifying end of a taser, sending him unconscious on the floor.

"Huh?" both of Karasuno's middle blockers were dumbstruck when they realized that the person who tasered Yamamoto was Sugawara.

"Hurry up," Sugawara beckoned them into the sleeping quarters.

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"Suga-san…you can be a good assassin someday, you know?" Hinata said once she and Tsukishima made it to the sleeping quarters.

Sugawara kicked all of the other boys out of the room for a while, until Hinata had finally put on some clothes. She wore one of Tsukishima's long-sleeved sweaters for the meantime.

"I don't think that was a compliment." Suga said with a smile.

Hinata sighed in exhaustion, her face a picture of worry. "You think Yamamoto-san will tell others what he saw?"

"He might think it was just a dream," Sugawara said with a smile. "But, in any case, we're ready to silence him."

_**Creepy,**_ thought Hinata. She had never thought she would see Sugawara's dark side. In fact, she never thought he had one, until now.

They heard a knock on the door. Sugawara finally let the other boys, who were slightly irritated for being kicked out of the room.

"What was that all about, Suga?" Sawamura was annoyed.

"Sorry," Sugawara did not bother to explain himself.

"Is that Tsukki's sweater?" Yamaguchi pointed at what Hinata was wearing.

"Yeah," Hinata answered nonchalantly.

"Eeeh?!" Nishinoya was not pleased.

"What's that noise for, Noya?" Tanaka raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

"A girl wearing a guy's shirt?" Noya spoke loudly.

"Only couples do that!"

Silence filled the entire room for a moment. Sugawara glanced at both Hinata and Tsukishima. Neither one of them could not suppress their cheeks from blushing.

"Return that right away," Tsukishima suddenly said.

"Tomorrow," Hinata replied, glancing away from the tall blonde guy.

"It's not like I want to keep it, anyway. It's too huge."

"No, it's not." Tsukishima smirked. "You're just too small."

"S-shut up!"

Sugawara sighed. He knew that things had become awkward since Hinata became a girl.

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Kozume Kenma was definitely not a morning person. Come to think of it, one can consider it a miracle if you ever find Kenma wide awake early in the morning. Not that he's a lazy boy or anything. It was just that Kenma was the kind of kid whose energy is saved for certain things: like videogames, volleyball, and thinking critically.

He had been doing a lot of critical thinking recently.

His genius mind was still engrossed in analyzing the events that happened yesterday: Hinata Shouyou's absence, his mysterious cousin's appearance, Kuroo's strange behavior.

_**Well, there's nothing strange about Kuroo's behavior,**_ Kenma thought in slight annoyance.

_**He's just head over heels in love with her.**_

Although it was too early for him to make a conclusion, Kenma was pretty much sure that his longtime friend had fallen in love at first sight with Shouyou's adorable cousin, Hinata Shouko.

But there are going to be problems, for sure.

_**One was that Karasuno would not easily give Hinata Shouko away. That, and the fact that she might not return Kuroo's feelings. Moreover…**_

When Kenma took an early morning walk outside the premises, he saw Hinata Shouko practicing receives with Kageyama and Nishinoya.

_**There are his rivals…**_

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"Too low!"

It was still early in the morning, but the trio of Hinata, Kageyama and Nishinoya were already making a loud noise at a small volleyball court outside the gymnasium. They took the chance of practicing early while the others were still asleep, Kageyama doing his nasty serves while Hinata and Noya try to receive them.

"Watch this," Nishinoya told Hinata as Kageyama prepares another hard serve. The libero lowered his stance, bracing himself to receive the ball.

The raven-haired setter did another one of his inhumanly strong serves. It hurled to the far left side of the court, but Noya was very quick on his feet and immediately received the ball.

"Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Hinata was amazed, as always.

"What do you call that move, Noya-san?!"

"An ordinary receive?" Kageyama bluntly muttered.

"That was no ordinary receive," Hinata told him. "Your serves are most likely to penetrate a brick wall, Kageyama!"

"My serves are slightly out of the ordinary," Kageyama answered in a defiant tone.

"You just receive the ball horribly, Hinata."

"Hey, I'm trying hard to receive your impossible serves!" Hinata pouted.

Kageyama fought the urge to comment something about her cute pouty face. "Then try harder! You want to beat Shiratorizawa, right?"

All that time, Kenma had been watching them from afar. He could not help but look at the trio suspiciously. He found their conversation very strange.

_**It seems like they're talking to Shouyou himself…and what's with Shouko hoping to beat Shiratorizawa?**_

"Why are you just standing there?"

Kenma quickly looked over his shoulders and was surprised to find Tsukishima, who was giving him a smug look.

"You…" Kenma was shocked, although it was hard to tell from his face. He had not realized that the tall middle blocker of Karasuno was already standing behind him.

Tsukishima walked past Kenma as if he hadn't seen him at all. The tall young man walked towards his team mates, whose eyebrows arched at the sight of him.

"You guys are up very early," Tsukishima told Hinata, Kageyama and Nishinoya.

Kageyama nodded in greeting, but spoke to the derisive blond guy in an angry tone. "Same to you."

"I couldn't sleep well last night." Tsukishima, however, would never tell that he had insomnia because he had been thinking of all the proper insults he shall use against Hinata in the future.

His eyes met Hinata's, and it took him a while before he could manage to bravely not avert his gaze out of shyness. It was not easy, especially after the events that happened between them yesterday evening.

"Are you practicing your horrible receives?" he asked in a mocking voice.

Hinata furrowed her eyebrows in irritation. "I already know I'm horrible when it comes to basic moves. You guys don't have to remind me."

Tsukishima smiled, happy to give his first insult for the day. He tried to come up with another one.

"Hey, I'm trying to become a good team mate here. I'll remind you everyday if you want."

"No thanks." Hinata would never give Glasses the satisfaction of teasing her every single day.

In an effort to put an end to the two middle blockers' bickering, Noya tossed the volleyball to Tsukishima, who caught it with one hand.

"Oi, Tsukki! Now that you're here, why don't you play with us?" Nishinoya said cheerfully.

"I'll pass," Tsukishima declined the offer. After what happened last night, he thought about not having too much physical contact with Hinata for a while. He then pointed a thumb at Kenma.

"Why not ask _**him**_ instead?"

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Kenma had no idea how he suddenly got to play an unofficial match with Hinata, Kageyama, and Nishinoya. The last he remembered, the tall guy named Tsukishima suddenly suggested that he would play with them. Now they were playing outside, a two-on-two match, with pairings decided by a coin toss: Kageyama and Nishinoya, against him and Hinata.

_**I hope Kuroo's still asleep,**_ Kenma thought. He had already seen the threatening look Kuroo gave Lev yesterday. He doubted that Kuroo would spare him even if they were friends.

"Why is Kageyama the one serving the ball?" Hinata whined.

"What, you find it scary?" Tsukishima spoke with a smug grin. He stood at the side of the court, as a referee.

"Shut up."

Kenma sighed deeply. He could not believe he got pulled into playing with these energetic people. And it was a ridiculous-looking two-on-two match: neither pair has the potential to properly pull off the basic moves. Kageyama was paired to Nishinoya, who was a libero, but neither Kenma nor Hinata had enough capabilities to defend from any attacks.

_**And, at least, Kageyama can win this game, even through service aces.**_

"Whatever," Hinata said. "I'll just receive your serves as much as I can!"

"Good." Kageyama replied, and he did one of his inhumanly strong serves once again.

It was a quick and very strong serve, but unfortunately it had to much force that it went overhead Hinata and Kenma. Tsukishima stifled a laugh, and so did Nishinoya, much to Kageyama's chagrin.

"Looks like I don't have to try receiving that much," Hinata spoke jokingly.

"Shut up and get the ball, dumbass," Kageyama growled.

"Okay, fine." Hinata chuckled. She then went away to search for the volleyball.

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Kageyama's serve had been too strong, that the raven-haired setter might as well have used a rocket launcher. It annoyed Hinata that she had to rummage through the bushes in search of the volleyball. She literally dived headfirst into the shrubs, looking for it.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

Hinata popped out of the bush upon hearing a smooth, low voice. Tetsurou Kuroo stood there, watching her amusedly, with the missing volleyball in his hand.

"You've found it!" Hinata cried in relief.

Kuroo smiled, and tossed the ball to the ginger-haired girl, who clumsily caught it with delicate hands.

"Thanks." Hinata said with a sincere smile. Her face was a bit dirty because of looking through the shrubs. Her hair was also messy and tangled, with tiny leaves clinging around.

_**And she still looks unbelievably cute,**_ Kuroo thought.

"You're playing volleyball this early?" he asked coyly as to grab the opportunity to remove the leaves on Hinata's sunfire hair.

"Yeah," Hinata, being too innocent for her own good, stood still and allowed him to do as he pleased.

"We're having a two-on-two match."

"We?" Kuroo raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Me, Kageyama, Nishinoya-senpai, and Kenma."

"Kenma?" Kuroo could not hold back the slight surprise in his voice.

_**Since when did he get up so early?**_ The bedhead thought in wonder.

"You can join us, if you want," Hinata grinned from ear to ear. "Tsukishima is also with us. Maybe we can have a three-on-three then."

"Tsukishima, huh?" Kuroo remembered what he had seen last night at the bathroom.

"Maybe I'll join." He gave one of his innocent, but nonetheless devious smiles.

"Say, are you planning to ask Coach Nekomata to let you participate in the games today?" he asked all of a sudden.

"I'm not hopeful that he'll allow me again, but yeah," Hinata answered.

"Hmm…" Kuroo paused for a while to think.

"I might be able to help you with that, you know."

"Really?" Hinata was wide-eyed now, more optimistic about having another chance to play in the practice games.

"Sure." Kuroo smiled 'innocently' at her.

"Hey, why don't we make a deal?"

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"What's taking that idiot so long?" Kageyama said, getting impatient because Hinata had been away for too long.

"It's your fault for making a ridiculous serve," Nishinoya rebutted the raven-haired setter.

Kenma would have taken Hinata's long absence as an opportunity for him to leave the place, had not Hinata arrived – together with Kuroo, of all people.

The boys of Karasuno had been quite surprised at the bed-haired captain of Nekoma's sudden appearance. Kuroo came, wearing his usual devious smile, but this time his cat-eyes had a slightly cold glare, particularly when he stared at the tall blond guy, Tsukishima.

"Mind if I join?" he asked. "Your friend Shouko here says it's okay."

"No problem!" Nishinoya said cheerfully, although he looked – and felt – awkward.

"I'll…just go back inside." Tsukishima was smart enough to understand that Kuroo had a grudge against him, although he had no idea why.

"No way!" Hinata said. "You're joining us. Let's toss a coin again so that we can arrange our teams." She walked towards Kageyama and grinned at the raven-haired setter.

"Hey, cresthead says he's gonna help me persuade Coach Nekomata to allow me to join today's games."

"Really?" Kageyama raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Why on earth would Kuroo want to help her?

"Yeah, but we had to win the game against Nekoma, though." Hinata smiled.

"Kuroo-san says that if we lose, I have to become the temporary manager of Nekoma until the end of this training camp, or at least until we win against them."

Kageyama's eyes widened in horror. "You WHAT?!"

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**Haha, okay. I have reread the manga, and around the 81****st**** or 82****nd**** chapters of Haikyuu! Was the 2****nd**** day of the Tokyo training camp, where the first game had been Karasuno vs. Nekoma, so I timed it properly.**

**I'm planning to make a TsukiHina vs. KuroHina for the meantime. But don't worry, there'll be OiHina vs KageHina as well, and NishiHina vs. KenHina soon.**

**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yo minna!**

**Chapter Eight is here! I'm glad you guys give reviews, I appreciate the criticisms (although I didn't get to do much about them, gomen) and I'm happy that you guys participate in the MOTHER SHIP ELECTIONS**

**Thank you so much for telling me your OTP…I guess I'll only close the voting once I manage to make some squeal-worthy moments out of all the possible ships in Haikyuu! (mind you, ALL the possible ships – canon or non-canon! This is gonna take a while to write)**

**But, anyway, this chapter is the WAR FOR HINA-CHAN'S FREEDOM (and probably, heart)!.TBH I've been looking forward to write this part XD**

**Gosh, I hope I did not turn Kuroo into a Yandere or something. But to me he's a Hottie-dere. Just saying :3**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 8: The Face that Launched a Thousand Volleyballs – Part 1**

The guys of Karasuno had never been _**this**_ tense before a game.

At this moment, it felt more like a life-or-death situation for them.

Just over-exaggerating here.

The thing was, the whole team of Karasuno was essentially in panic after they had found out about the deal between Hinata and Nekoma High's captain, Tetsurou Kuroo, right before the beginning of their first practice match for the day.

"Why did you agree to such a thing?" Kageyama was utterly frustrated at Hinata's sudden decision.

"I did not think it's such a big deal," Hinata shrugged her shoulders casually as she replied.

"It's not like I could no longer play volleyball if I lose. If we win this, I can participate in all of the practice matches, even in Saitama."

"But you have to become Nekoma's manager if we lose," Sugawara said. The way he folded his arms across his chest and the serious look on his face were clear signs that he was not his usually calm self.

"It's just fine, isn't it?" Hinata told him. "I mean, the guys from Nekoma are our friends."

Kageyama made a grunting noise, openly showing his annoyance towards the sudden predicament given by the gingerhead.

"It's true, but still…" Sugawara frowned worryingly. Nekoma had been very nice to Karasuno, but the incident with Yamamoto last night disturbed him. Moreover, it was not hard to see that Kuroo had his own motives for having a bet with Hinata.

"Hinata," Sawamura was equally bothered at the situation.

"Cancel the deal between you and Kuroo."

"Eh?!" Hinata was horrified, not understanding the reason behind the team's disapproval.

Sugawara glanced at the bench area of Nekoma and frowned deeply. "Unfortunately, it's too late for that."

The rest of them glanced his way, and saw Kuroo already talking to Coach Nekomata.

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"What is this bet all about?" Coach Nekomata spoke disapprovingly.

"Come on, now, it's not a big deal," said Kuroo airily. "You'll just allow her to play in the practice games, just like yesterday. If Karasuno wins, she can play anytime she wants. But if Karasuno loses the game, she'll have to work as a manager for us, until they win against us."

The old man sat in his chair, eyeing the bed-haired captain suspiciously. It was not unknown to the rest of the team that Kuroo was interested with Hinata Shouyou's cousin, but Coach Nekomata had never thought that the young man would go so far just to get the girl closer to him.

"This is a training camp, lad," Coach Nekomata spoke very seriously.

"I hope you remember the reason why we're here."

"I do remember why I am here," Kuroo grinned slyly.

"I don't understand your motives anymore, Kuroo. Why do you have to make her our temporary manager?"

"You still don't get it? I need to concentrate a lot right now." Kuroo said, flustering the coach further.

"Get to the point, Kuroo, or you'll be doing flying falls on your own all day." Nekomata spoke angrily.

"Coach, I need to focus on my game," Kuroo said, taking a momentary glance at Hinata who was doing stretches.

"I can't do that while she's on a different side of the court."

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Tanaka observed everyone else as they began to do stretching exercises, warming up before the game. There was a heavy air all over Karasuno's side of the court, and he found it strangely creepy.

His team mates had never looked so serious before.

His eyes drifted on Nishinoya. The Guardian Deity had been frighteningly silent this morning. His golden brown eyes were extremely focused on the game, as if he has the burden of winning this practice match.

To be honest, Tanaka felt the same way.

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Nishinoya quietly stretched his arms and legs as he meditated about the game ahead. He was very determined to win this one, and all other games against Nekoma afterwards.

_**It was my fault that Hinata became a girl,**_ he thought gravely.

_**That's why I promised to myself that I will help her.**_

Done with stretching his limbs, he stood up from the floor, his gaze sending shivers down everyone's spine.

_**I will protect her as well.**_

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"I can't believe Nekoma's coach would agree to this," muttered Takeda-sensei as Karasuno and Nekoma lined up on the court.

"The old guy probably thinks it isn't bad to tolerate a little bet," said Coach Ukai. He looked distraught, and the teacher immediately noticed it.

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes, I think so," Ukai admitted. "I just don't think Hinata should've made a deal with Nekoma's captain."

Takeda looked at Nekoma's side of the court, where Kuroo gathered his teammates for a final briefing.

"How come?" he asked.

"I…I don't know," Ukai was really troubled.

"I just think that their captain is the kind of guy who gambles only when he knows he's going to win."

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Kuroo gathered his teammates, smiling at them in a handsome but nevertheless suspicious manner.

"If we win this, we get a cute little manager for our team," he spoke as if the team was about to win the championship trophy.

"Orrryaaa!" Yamamoto got excited all of a sudden.

"I really don't understand what is going on," said Yaku with furrowed eyebrows.

"I understand what's going on, and I don't like it." Kenma spoke openly against Kuroo.

"Come on, this is just a simple bet," Kuroo said airily. "I don't think your friend Shouyou would mind."

_**He would if he knows your motives,**_ Kenma thought, hoping that he knew how to contact Shouyou.

"I'm playing against the cute girl! Cool!" Lev said excitedly.

Kuroo clapped the half-Russian's back a little too hard. "If you make any errors, Lev, I'll smack you."

He then turned to the rest of the team.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?"

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Karasuno was holding its own meeting as well. The team's starting lineup gathered together, forming a small circle on the court. There was the oddball duo Hinata and Kageyama, the libero Nishinoya, along with Asahi, Tanaka and Sawamura.

"We'll take this game seriously, get it?" Sawamura said, although the look on his teammates' faces showed that they did not need reminding.

"Osu!"

"Good. Let's get going."

As they broke apart, Kageyama could not help but hit the back of Hinata's head with the palm of his hand.

"Ow! What was that for?" Hinata said, giving the raven-haired setter an angry look.

"We're playing for your freedom here," Kageyama said in a serious tone.

"You better not miss the ball."

The setter went to his place afterwards. Hinata stared at him in wonder. She felt as if Kageyama was simply showing concern towards her.

"Oi, get moving, Hinata!" Tanaka was the one assaulting her skull this time, by rubbing her head and messing her hair.

"You better do your quicks well, or you go to the other side after this!"

"I understand that!" Hinata said while smiling at him.

"Good," Tanaka sounded grim all of a sudden. "Let's not lose this game."

The war has begun.

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After a coin toss, it was decided that Nekoma would be the one to serve the ball. Kageyama took a moment to observe Nekoma's lineup: the vanguard included Yamamoto, the half-Russian middle blocker Lev, and the vice captain Nobuyuki, while the rear guard consisted of the setter Kenma, the libero named Yaku, and Mr. Bedhead himself, Tetsurou Kuroo.

_**The lineup's odd, but the way I see it…**_Kageyama thought gravely.

_**Nekoma's defense is going to be a big trouble to us if we can't do anything against it.**_

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"Nice serve, Kenma!"

Kenma's lazy serve was easily received by Sawamura, who passed it directly to Kageyama.

_**We're playing for your freedom here. You better not miss the ball.**_

Hinata was already on her feet the moment Kageyama touched the volleyball, setting it high in the air. The ball's direction was already pinpointed, she jumped high and, out of reflex, she inevitably closed her eyes and hit the ball with a sudden force that left the blockers speechless.

"Gwaaah! I didn't miss!" Hinata squealed happily. She turned her head towards Kageyama. "'You seen that?"

Back at Nekoma's side of the court, Lev looked behind him, right at the spot where the volleyball hurled past.

"Cool." He gushed excitedly. He then looked at the petite gingerhead who had just scored Karasuno's first point of the game.

He could not help but smile in anticipation.

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Meanwhile, on the bench side of Karasuno, Coach Ukai and the rest of the team could not avoid feeling tense while watching the practice game.

"I can't believe everyone's feeling pressured right now," Yachi murmured to herself.

"This might be hard for them, especially Hinata…"

"No, I think it's the other way around," said Shimizu. The younger manager glanced at her, honestly puzzled.

"I don't think Hinata would mind being Nekoma's temporary manager if she loses the game, for as long as she gets a chance to play," Shimizu said. "I believe the burden is on the other boys…"

_**Funny that it isn't the damsel who's in distress right now,**_ Yachi smiled while thinking.

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"Another quick!"

"Move faster, Lev!" Kenma yelled in frustration.

The half-Russian has been missing the first three quick strikes that Karasuno's oddball duo had been hurling at Nekoma so far. The crows were leading the first set by two points, much to the cats' surprise.

_**They're more focused today,**_ Kenma observed.

_**They surely won't give her up.**_

"I think I can catch up soon," Lev suddenly spoke to no one in particular.

"Come again?" Kenma raised an eyebrow at him.

"The cute girl's quick strikes, I mean," Lev smiled, in a confident but at the same time honest, unadulterated manner. "I'll get to block them before this game is over."

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"We're doing well," Sawamura said. "Keep it up!"

"Osu!" the rest of the starting lineup responded.

Things seemed to work well for Karasuno during the first set, but Kageyama was not to let his guard down just yet. The half-Russian has been the one tasked to mark Hinata. Lev was considered a newbie in volleyball, and his basic skills were undeniably worse than Hinata's, but with his height and reflexes, he surely had the chance to block the tiny decoy.

"Oi, oi, you look too tense, Kageyama!" Nishinoya suddenly shove the back of the raven-haired setter.

"No, I'm not," Kageyama denied grumpily.

Noya gave him a taut smile. "Yes, you are. And usually, that's a sign that you're about to mess things up."

Kageyama's eyes widened. The lively, short-legged upperclassman had never been this blunt towards him before.

Nishinoya grinned from ear to ear, changing his mood all of a sudden. "All I'm saying is keep up the good work, Kageyama!"

"Uh. Yeah." Kageyama swallowed hard; the Guardian Deity was totally in a bad mood at that moment.

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Nishinoya was truly not happy with what was going on. Sure, Karasuno was leading the first set, but Nekoma was only two points behind. The Guardian Deity had been trying more than his best just to make sure the volleyball would not fall onto Karasuno's side of the court, but the spikers have been giving them a hard time.

_**We owe our two-point advantage to Hinata and Kageyama,**_ Noya said to himself.

_**But the rest of us have to do our part as well. It can't be just the two of them…**_

"Chance ball!" Sawamura shouted.

"I'll get it!" Nishinoya flawlessly received the ball and sent it to the setter.

Hinata braced herself to jump once again, but Kageyama sent the ball to Tanaka, who forcefully spiked the ball between Nobuyuki and Yamamoto. Kenma, who was standing close to where the ball hit barely made an effort to run after the ball, apparently ignoring it on purpose.

"Darn it!" Yamamoto growled in frustration.

"The hell are you avoiding the ball for, Kenma?!" Coach Nekomata whined.

"That spike would tear my arm off," Kenma muttered unenthusiastically.

"ORYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tanaka shouted energetically.

"Like hell we'll give Hinata to you!"

"Nice spike, Tanaka-san!" Hinata raised a hand and gave monkhead a high five.

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"This is bad," Kuroo muttered slyly. Kenma glanced at him, wondering why the bed-haired captain was still cool despite that Karasuno was taking over the first set.

"Do you have a plan in mind?" Kenma asked casually.

Kuroo gave him a sidelong look. There was a glint of shrewdness in those golden orbs, as if the captain knew a secret and was thinking twice about telling it to Kenma.

"Well…" he smiled innocently afterwards. "To be honest, I'm only praying that you guys are more committed to this game like I do."

Kenma scowled. He knew Kuroo better than anybody else, and he was certain that the bedhead was up to something.

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The first set had been a long, tough battle, but Karasuno shed a lot of sweat to win it in the end. A time out was called, and the teams gathered at their own bench areas.

"You're doing very well!" Sugawara told Hinata and the rest of the starting lineup.

"To be honest, I never thought we'd get the first set…" Sawamura said.

"Right." Kageyama agreed as he stole a sidelong look at Nekoma's bench side. Kuroo was having a long talk with the coach and the rest of the team's lineup. There was a wide grin on Captain Bedhead's face, and the raven-haired setter disliked it.

"We'd better be careful in the next set."

"Their blockers are going to be tough in the next rotation, so we need to adjust," Coach Ukai said.

"We don't have to have a vanguard showdown with them. What we need is to properly cover the floor." He looked at Sawamura and Nishinoya.

"I'll leave it to you."

"Osu," Nishinoya and Sawamura nodded in reply.

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Nekoma were making their own plans as well when they were gathering at their bench area.

"How much time do you need, Lev?" Kuroo asked the half-Russian all of a sudden.

Everyone turned their eyes on the bed-haired captain, whose eyebrows arched in surprise.

"I thought you guys already know," Kuroo said casually.

"We used the first set to see how we can adapt to the superhuman duo's quicks."

"It wouldn't hurt to tell us beforehand," Kenma could feel the veins popping on his temple. His emotions were getting the better of him recently.

Coach Nekomata heaved an exhausted sigh. "Of course. That's the plan, all right."

Kuroo shrugged, as if they weren't under pressure. "Very well. I guess it won't take long before we can block those inhuman quicks. Lev," he eyed the half-Russian sternly.

"We're taking the second set, so you better get moving."

"No problem." Lev answered cheerfully.

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As Kageyama had predicted, the second set proved to be a tough fight. Yaku and Nobuyuki had been moved in and out of the court that the vanguard lineup now included Kuroo, Kenma and Lev.

"Oh, this is tough." Tsukishima muttered on the benchside. He seemed to be very focused on the game. So far the second set was in favor of Nekoma. Karasuno hadn't made another rotation after Kuroo's movement to the front with Kenma and Lev.

"Indeed." Coach Ukai said under his breath. He was thinking deeply about how to counter the current vanguard of Nekoma.

"Even if we place Tsukishima in front, we still lack offense. We can send our attacks to Kenma, who seemed the least committed of all the players on Nekoma's side, but Kuroo obviously knows that…"

Tsukishima heard the coach's dilemma, and he could not help but frown. Nekoma's third year middle blocker was no fool, and surely had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

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Nishinoya barely saved the volleyball hurled down by the bed-haired captain. Karasuno's libero gritted his teeth in frustration. Kuroo accurately aimed a spot where Noya was least likely able to receive, and he would have made a kill had not Noya been quick on his feet deliberately dived for the ball.

"Chance ball!" Yaku received the ball and naturally sent it to Kenma, who gave it to Lev. The lanky half-Russian did one of his whip-like spikes and knocked Hinata down as she had tried to block it.

"Ow." Hinata winced as she slowly got up. Kageyama helped her up almost instinctively, holding her hand gingerly as if he was afraid he might break her.

"Thanks." She smiled at the raven-haired setter, who glanced away blushing.

"Ngh." He made an indistinct tone to say it was nothing.

Kenma stole a sidelong look at Kuroo, and noticed the captain's cool demeanor disappearing for a moment. Kuroo's eyebrows were forming furrows in the middle of his forehead, and his cat eyes were unusually intense.

_**Kuroo,**_ Kenma thought worryingly. _**Don't let your weakness show to them.**_

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"Actually, that might work…" Tsukishima murmured amusedly all of a sudden.

"What is?" Yamaguchi asked.

The tall blonde had been observing Nekoma's side ever since the start of the second set. Eyeing the vanguard, he had noticed something remarkable, and something that Karasuno could use to their advantage.

"Some sort of idea to win," Tsukishima spoke evenly.

"You've been thinking of a strategy?" Yamaguchi said with a look of disbelief.

"Yeah." Glasses looked at his friend quizzically. "What?"

Yamaguchi grinned at Tsukishima, who frowned in suspicion.

"What is it, Yamaguchi?"

Yamaguchi shook his head. "Nothing, Tsukki. This is the first time I've seen you look so determined to win a game. "

Tsukishima could not understand why it seemed such a big deal to his friend. He was not determined to win this game at all. It was just a morning practice match, for heaven's sake.

"And to think that you don't like Hinata!" Yamaguchi went on. "I thought you'd take this game less seriously so that she won't be on our side for a while."

At this, the tall blond middle blocker glowered at Yamaguchi. "Shut up."

For the first time in his life, Yamaguchi gave him a superior look. "Just tell them your strategy, Tsukki."

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In the middle of the second set, Karasuno suddenly called a time out. Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, Sawamura and Tanaka gathered with the rest of the team around Coach Ukai.

"We're getting crushed in this set." Ukai the Younger said worryingly.

"Nishinoya, we'll take you out later on." He told the libero, who looked reluctant to get out of the court despite the fatigue showing on his face. Coach Ukai glanced uncomfortably at Tsukishima, who jolted upon being nudged by Yamaguchi. There was something unusual about the pair that day. Something about Tsukishima being the hesitant one, and Yamaguchi being persuasive that it was already out of his character.

"Tsukishima has...something in mind." He beckoned the tall freshman to come forward.

"You tell them."

Tsukishima stepped forward, looking at his teammates uneasily. He was not the type who speaks up to everyone. He averted his gaze away from Hinata, who was looking at him in anticipation of a good strategy.

He shove his eyeglasses closer to his face as he spoke in an uncharacteristically nervous voice, which strangely resembled Yamaguchi's.

"This is a very simple, but quite effective trick," Tsukishima muttered the words as if he disliked the idea he was about to suggest.

"We're using a different approach against the vanguard. An indirect kind of attack."

Everyone looked at him as if he was explaining the Theory of Relativity in French. Well, who could blame them? None of them had ever seen Tsukishima spoke up like this. In fact, none of them had even expected it.

Tsukishima heaved a sigh, and he began to explain his strategy. After which, he earned an incredulous look from his teammates.

"That's it?" Hinata reacted casually, raising an eyebrow as if she hoped for a grander idea from Tsukishima.

"What do you mean, 'that's it'?" Kageyama was annoyed. "His plan's ridiculous!"

Tsukishima folded his arms across his chest cockily. "You have a plan in mind, King?" he scoffed.

"Go on, I'm listening."

Kageyama glared at the tall blonde as if he was drilling bullet holes on the other guy's face.

Sugawara looked at the coach, who was scratching his head in confusion. He somehow pitied the coach for having to agree to such a stratagem, because Tsukishima's idea was clearly not what a normal volleyball player would suggest.

"Well," Suga spoke finally. "Nothing for it but to try, I guess."

After a final verdict, they walked back into the court.

Before the second set was over, Karasuno's team decided to follow Tsukishima's ingenious plan.

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**YAH!**

**More TsukiHina vs KuroHina in the next chapter! The part 2 of the war for Hina-chan!**

**Did you like it?**

**I think I'll add one more day for the Tokyo excursion, just to add some fluff in the KuroHina vs TsukiHina moment.**

**I've seen someone who asked for a Bokuto Kotarou x Hinata Shouyou moment…you gave me an idea!**

**Review, please!.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Aha! Allow me to give you an update about our MOTHER SHIP POLL:**

**So far, TsukiHina is killing it, KuroHina being the close (VERY CLOSE) second; KageHina and KenHina battling for the third position.**

**THIS IS UNOFFICIAL, SINCE THERE ARE STILL SOME OTHER SHIPS WE HAVE TO MENTION IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS (SO THE RESULTS MAY CHANGE). MOREOVER, THE FACT THAT I'M FOCUSING ON TSUKIHINA AND KUROHINA RIGHT NOW DOESN'T MEAN I'M ENDING THE STORY WITH EITHER ONE OF THE SHIPS.**

**Trust me when I say I'm going to make squeal-worthy moments for all the other ships. I'm taking this VERY SLOWLY, so calm down guys, have faith in me.**

**Chapter nine is here, minna!**

**So you're probably wondering what on earth was Tsukki going to do against Nekoma (Kuroo in particular).**

**Very well.**

**Douzo!**

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Tsukishima heaved a weary sigh. He was strangely exhausted despite that he hasn't entered the court yet. In fact, he hardly exerted any effort in the training. He simply did what was asked of him, nothing more. And yet, here he was now, taking a certain practice game more seriously than ever.

_**All because of a certain shrimp.**_

This was the first time he actually had felt so tired during their training camp in Tokyo. Even then, he quickly noticed the sidelong glance that Yamaguchi was giving him.

"Stop behaving so weirdly, Yamaguchi." Tsukishima said, his tone frankly exasperated.

"I'm not behaving weirdly," Yamaguchi replied defiantly. "If there is anyone who's acting out of the ordinary here, it would be you, Tsukki."

Tsukishima looked at him, wide-eyed. Never in his entire life had Yamaguchi rebutted him like this. He wondered where his timid friend got the courage to openly say such words.

"How's that so?" Tsukishima asked in an inquiring, if not mocking, tone.

Yamaguchi simply smiled at him. It was not his usually shy, nervous smile. It was a triumphant smile, a smile that meant he enjoyed having an advantage over Tsukishima.

"You'll realize it soon enough," Yamaguchi said vaguely.

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"Eh? They're not done yet?"

Fukurodani Academy's captain and ace, Bokuto Kotarou, had put an end to their match against Ubugawa, winning 2-1. The silver-haired, amber-eyed third year was somehow disappointed that Kuroo hadn't crushed Karasuno yet. The second set was taking too long that the rotation of teams was disrupted, and Ubugawa had chosen to play against Shinzen for the meantime.

"It seems that Nekoma's taking the second set, nevertheless." Fukurodani's setter Akaashi Keiji was watching the game from the side.

"Hmm. Karasuno took the first set, huh?" Bokuto was surprised; he thought the game would become a straight victory for Nekoma right away. He set his amber eyes on Karasuno's side of the court, and immediately noticed Hinata. "The cute girl's playing again?"

"Kuroo made a bet," Akaashi answered. "If Karasuno loses this game, Nekoma will take the girl as their manager."

"Seriously?! How cruel!" Bokuto exclaimed, earning him an annoyed look from his teammate. Fukurodani's ace eyed Hinata as she jumped high to make another kill.

"Knowing that crest-haired idiot, he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

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Kenma had no choice but to take the game more seriously than he had ever been. The moment he saw the intense look on Kuroo's face, he understood that things would get nasty if he won't cooperate with his childhood friend.

_**Kuroo may be devious, but he was not that hard to read. **_

Despite knowing him for so long, Kenma had never seen Kuroo lose his cool in a game. If seeing Hinata smiling at another guy could enrage the bed-haired captain that easily, it would only take one person from the opposing team to use this weakness to their advantage and cause an all-out chaos in the court. Hinata was at the rear guard, and the vanguard was taken currently taken by Tanaka, Asahi and Kageyama.

_**Time to take this set...**_

"I'll take it!" Yaku received the ball and sent it to Kenma.

"Here." Kenma tossed the ball to Lev instead of Kuroo. Kenma was still uncertain on whether Captain Bedhead was calm enough for the setter to entrust him a toss.

The half-Russian spiked the ball hard, accurately sending it onto Karasuno's floor. Nekoma successfully took the second set, 25-20.

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Hinata drew out a soft breath while she nervously braced herself for the third set. Nishinoya walked back into the benchside, Tsukishima walking into the court in his stead.

"I don't know how to follow your plan," she whispered as she glanced at the tall blonde. For a moment, she thought she saw a hint of smile on his lips.

"It's very simple, really." Tsukishima spoke in a whisper, as if he wanted to speak only to her, and no one else.

Hinata pouted her lips. "I'm…not used to this."

_**Cute as always**_, Tsukishima thought amusedly.

Much to the gingerhead's surprise, the taller middle blocker patted her head gently. There was a strange reluctance in his touch, as if he had longed to touch her yet he was holding back because what he was doing was illegal.

Once Tsukishima was done patting Hinata's head like she was his illegally adopted pet kitten, he smiled at her. It was a secretive smile, not much different from Kuroo's shrewd smirk, but was uniquely his. It was a smile Hinata had never seen from Tsukishima before.

"Why don't you start with calling me by my nickname?" he spoke to her in a sweet tone.

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The third set was an intense showdown between the two teams. The rally went on and on, as neither of the teams would allow the volleyball to hit the floor. With another quick attack, Hinata managed to take the first score and rotate the lineup. Hinata and Tsukishima were at the vanguard along with Kageyama, while the rear guard was occupied by Sawamura, Asahi and Nishinoya, who had subbed Tanaka.

Kageyama glanced at Hinata and Tsukishima uneasily. He never agreed to the plan from the start. He will never agree now.

"Nice serve, Sawamura-san!" Tanaka yelled, watching Sawamura's serve go straight to Nekoma's floor.

On Nekoma's side, it was Yamamoto who received the ball first.

"Kenma!" the Mohawk-head neatly passed the ball to the setter.

Kenma tossed the ball to Kuroo, who ran from the side of the front line and jumped to make an A-quick. The bed-haired captain touched the ball perfectly, but Tsukishima was quick on his feet and successfully blocked the ball after a properly timed jump.

"Whoa." Bokuto, who was watching from the side, whistled low under his breath in disbelief.

Kuroo watched the ball as it rolled on the floor, his face impassive, although he was quite surprised that the blonde would have the guts to deliberately block him.

Tsukishima, on the other hand, was also surprised that he blocked Kuroo. He did not show it on his face, nonetheless. He coolly shoved his eyeglasses closer to his face, and glanced at Hinata who leapt in excitement.

"Nice block!" she said proudly as if she had blocked Kuroo herself. "That was awesome, Tsukki!"

"Tsukki?!" Everyone on Karasuno's side cried in disbelief.

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_**Tsukki?**_ Sugawara arched his eyebrows, wondering if he had misheard. Nobody has the right to call Tsukishima "Tsukki", unless he or she fulfilled the following requirements: (1) They're Yamaguchi, (2) Their hearts are strong enough to bear the stinging remarks that Tsukishima will hurl at them because he hates being called Tsukki by anyone who was not that close to him.

Hinata has probably fulfilled the second requirement, but never had she ever called Tsukishima by his nickname before. Until now.

_**So that's the plan**_. But Suga still could not understand how Kuroo would be affected by a name.

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_**What's with the silly nickname?**_ Kuroo thought in annoyance. His golden cat eyes set their cold glare at the vanguard area of Karasuno, particularly to the two people right in front of him. A certain petite orange-haired girl and a tall blonde boy.

An annoying tall blond boy, to be precise.

Kuroo would never admit it, but the moment Tsukishima stepped into the court, Karasuno's smart young middle blocker got straight into his nerves as well. It made Kuroo wonder if the eyeglasses-donning blonde was actually trying to irritate him on purpose.

"What a bother." Kuroo muttered under his breath, audible enough for Kenma to hear him.

"Remember to concentrate on the game," Kenma told him plainly.

"I _am_ concentrating," there was an edge in Kuroo's voice, which was very unusual for the cool captain of Nekoma.

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Kenma sighed in exhaustion. The thing that he has been worrying about has finally happened. Although, to be honest, he was not surprised that Tsukishima would be the first to understand Kuroo's jealousy and use it to Karasuno's advantage.

Now, Kenma has to deal with the increasing tension that was welling inside Nekoma's captain.

_**What a total bother,**_ Kenma scowled in irritation.

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"Not a bad start…" Tsukishima whispered to himself. He knew that he was beginning to peeve Kuroo. Tsukishima would never admit it, but he was nervous about how to execute his strategy. He was used to psychologically affecting his opponents just by giving them a look that riled them up right away. But he knew that Kuroo was exactly the type of guy who does the same thing, if not better. That was why Tsukishima used Hinata against the bedhead.

"Hey," Hinata nudged him gently on the rib. "I don't know if your plan is working, Tsukki."

Tsukishima glanced at the adorable gingerhead, surprised that she was immediately used to calling him Tsukki. He was much surprised at himself, nonetheless. He never thought he liked hearing the said epithet from her.

"It will work," Tsukishima answered. "Just wait and see."

Hinata gave him a look, but she did not press any further. She concentrated on the game, giving her full trust to Tsukishima.

"Oi," Kageyama grunted.

Tsukishima looked at the raven-haired setter through the corner of his eye. Kageyama did not approve of the plan, and it was adding to Tsukishima's list of worries. Sometimes when Kageyama was against something, things get messed up like an improperly tuned guitar.

"If you insist on doing this until the game is over, you gotta do it right."

Tsukishima glanced at Kageyama in disbelief.

"J-just do your thing!" Kageyama hissed.

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"Sawamura-san, nice serve!" It was Asahi's turn to praise the captain after he flawlessly served once more.

"Here it goes again," Yaku muttered as he carefully received the ball. It went up slowly in an arc towards Kenma.

At that moment Kenma looked into Kuroo's clever cat eyes and quickly caught a hint of his many ideas. Immediately the young setter knew where to toss the ball.

Kageyama, alarmed at the opponent's plan, braced himself to block. Lev was already on his feet to spike the ball, and Kageyama together with Hinata had already jumped, their arms up to defend the floor on Karasuno's side.

But just as quickly as the oddball duo created their wall to block did Lev change his movements and allow Kuroo to spike, straight to Tsukishima, who was a little too late to aid in the defense. Nishinoya dove for the ball, but it has already bounced on the floor, giving the score to Nekoma.

_**Should've expected that from someone whom I'd just pissed off**_, Tsukishima thought, his face a picture of annoyance. He did not bother looking at Kuroo; he knew that the guy must be grinning from ear to ear because he managed to avenge himself so quickly.

"Don't mind it, Tsukki!" Hinata spoke to Tsukishima cheerfully. She caught the tall blonde off guard when she clapped his back, as if they were naturally close friends.

Tsukishima sneaked a glance towards Kuroo, and noticed the captain's deep frown despite scoring a point for his team.

_**Eat your heart out, captain,**_ Tsukishima thought with a cold smile. For a moment, he was surprised at his own wickedness. Not that he felt guilty or anything.

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Kenma was starting to feel uneasy; Kuroo may not say it aloud, but the energy he was radiating was too dark, not to mention too deadly.

"Kuroo." He spoke softly, wary that even his tone when speaking might spark the captain's anger off.

When the taller guy looked at him, Kenma thought he had seen Mephistopheles in his full glory.

"Listen," Kuroo said with a mad smile. "I have ways of taking them down. Now, are you going to help me, or not?"

Kenma looked at Kuroo for a moment, wondering if the captain had already gone nuts, but he realized that Kuroo was actually scolding him for going easy on Karasuno.

_**Still calm,**_ Kenma thought in astonishment. _**Do you want her that much?**_

"Not if you're losing your cool, I am not." Kenma said, with a hint of stubbornness in his voice. It silenced Kuroo for a moment, after which the cool bed-haired captain gave a chuckle.

"Oh, all right." Kuroo said. "I'll try my best to keep calm and be patient." His devious cat eyes drifted until they met Hinata's wide, innocent orbs.

"They say best things come for those who wait…"

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Nekoma got the next point, hence the cats made another rotation, Kenma now back at the rear guard. At this point, Kuroo faced Tsukishima directly, and it formed a strong tension inside the court.

"Looks like there's bad blood between the two of them," Bokuto muttered when he watched the two tall middle blockers fight head to head at the vanguard. "Strange…Kuroo's not the type who shows grudge against others."

"Well, the blonde crossed the line," Akaashi folded his arms across his chest as he spoke. "'Tried to flirt with Kuroo's crush."

"He did?" Bokuto was sincerely amazed. "That guy's got balls!"

"Sure, he does. Are you sure you're watching the game? How come you haven't noticed it yet?"

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_**I sure as hell crossed the line,**_ Tsukishima thought when he heard the guys from Fukurodani Academy talk. Normally he would have avoided being in such a situation. He was not the type of guy who wouldn't mind messing with the enemy in order to win the game.

"Hey," Tsukishima muttered to Kageyama. "Participate on this."

Kageyama heard the blonde's words very well, and he could not suppress a blush. "No way in hell." He whispered, his cheeks burning red.

Tsukishima smirked at the raven-haired setter. "Your face says otherwise."

"I never agreed – "

"But it's working. Deal with it, King."

"Tch." Kageyama grunted. He had to admit it, nonetheless; Tsukishima riling Kuroo did a good thing for Karasuno. Nekoma's captain somehow made some errors, thanks to the way Tsukishima distracted him with Hinata.

Their whispered conversation was interrupted by Nishinoya's shouting. "Chance ball!" he yelled as he received the ball. "Kageyama!"

Kageyama was on the alert, tossing the ball to the far side of the net, in time with Hinata's jump. The gingerhead spiked the ball very well, properly pulling off a quick strike.

"Gwaaaaaaah!" Hinata had a big smile on her face.

Tsukishima nudged at Kageyama, who blushed as he stammered. "N-nice spike, Hinata."

"Eeeeeh? Really?" Hinata was genuinely happy that the genius setter praised her.

"Don't make me repeat what I said, dumbass." Kageyama said angrily.

"What – " Hinata pouted, annoyed. "What kind of team mate would call you a dumbass after praising your spike?"

"A tsundere." Tsukishima said with a smirk.

"Right!" Hinata stuck out her tongue at the raven-haired setter. "Tsundereyama Tobio!"

"Tsundereyama?" a vein popped on Kageyama's forehead. The rest of the team had cover their mouths to stifle their laughter.

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_**What? Kageyama as well?**_ Kenma observed Karasuno's vanguard. The way Kenma saw it, Tsukishima and Kageyama were double-teaming Kuroo. Which was a surprising thing, knowing that the two boys never got along.

_**Then again, they are protecting the same person.**_

"Pfft, Tsundereyama." Lev bit his lip in order to stop laughing.

Kuroo, however, did not find it funny. Kenma could not help but worry; Kuroo was the type who would laugh at any ridiculous event before him.

"Lev," Kenma spoke to the Half-Russian. "Can you block her quicks now?"

The seriousness in the setter's tone silenced Lev. Hence the half-Russian simply nodded in reply.

"Good." Kenma said darkly. "Let's get this over with."

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_The Battle At The Trash Heap_ has never been this intense. Neither the crows nor the cats were about to back down. Just when one team was up by one point, the other team would make a kill to tie the score. Even the spectators felt pressured; they have no idea which team was going to win.

Takeda-sensei glanced at the scoreboard and frowned. The third set was about to come to a deuce.

"This kinda reminds me of our match against Aoba Josai." He muttered.

"Yes, but something else is at stake here," answered Coach Ukai. "Or someone, rather."

Takeda smiled at the coach. "Those boys value Hinata as their team mate, don't you think?"

Ukai shrugged. "From what I've heard, they've promised Hinata's parents that they'll protect her, so I guess that's it."

"Is that so?" Takeda's eyes drifted back to the court. How he wished that the team could save Hinata.

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When Hinata did one of her broad quicks, Lev was already in the air, long arms reaching the ball and deliberately blocking the ball. The rest of Karasuno could only stare as the half-Russian took a score, giving Nekoma the lead 24-23.

"Damn it." Kageyama gritted his teeth in frustration.

Tsukishima glanced at Nekoma's side and frowned. He was very assured that his plan worked; Kuroo had committed a lot of mistakes in the third set. Unfortunately there were his other team mates – Kenma in particular – who had managed to take control of the team and used the half-Russian to deal the death blow.

"Don't mind it; let's win the next rally!" Nishinoya shouted vigorously.

Hinata was easily cheered by this. "Osu!"

Kuroo, on the other hand, was getting motivated again. "Still not giving up this set?"

"Of course not!" Hinata answered him with a determined but still adorable look. "We're going to win this!"

Kuroo gave her one of his 'innocent' smiles. "Very well."

There was a deafening silence in the court when Yamamoto served the ball.

Nishinoya received Yamamoto's serve with severe focus, automatically sending it to Kageyama. The raven-haired setter tossed it quickly to Hinata who did another one of her broad attacks. Lev, however, managed to touch the ball with the end of his fingers.

"Chance ball!" Yaku shouted, signaling the others to back away as he received the ball by himself.

"Brace yourselves for the attack!" Sawamura yelled.

"Osu!" the rest of Karasuno answered.

Kuroo spiked the ball right between the small gap in the wall of blockers before him. Nishinoya quickly came to the rescue, diving for the ball before it hit the floor. It was a clumsy receive; Kageyama had no choice but to pass it to the other side.

"Another chance ball," Kenma muttered as he watched their libero receive the ball again.

"Kenma!"

"Right," Kenma tossed the ball high. It was Lev who spiked it this time, but the ball was touched by Tsukishima.

"Nice touch, Tsukki!" Hinata shouted.

Nishinoya rolled on the floor to receive the missile-like spiked ball, and Kageyama managed to toss it more properly.

Hinata was already running around the vanguard area, and launched herself high in the air as she closed her eyes and spiked the ball.

When she opened her eyes, however, the ball landed on the floor of Karasuno.

"Eh?" she was still dazed from the quick pace of events.

"I BLOCKED IT!" Lev exclaimed. He leapt up and down, his face a genuine look of happiness. "Did you see that? I blocked cutie's super strike!"

Everyone in Karasuno was utterly in shock. The half-Russian had fully blocked the oddball duo's quick strike. But more than that, they have lost the most important game they've played in their training camp in Tokyo.

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Nekoma, on the other hand, was happy of their victory. Especially Kuroo. Now that he had won the bet, the crows had no other option than to yield their prized possession.

Kuroo held out a hand towards Hinata. He had a triumphant grin on his handsome face. There was not a trace of shrewdness in his smile, and Hinata was not sure whether she should punch him or return the smile.

"The cats won the first round," Kuroo spoke softly, as if he was consoling her. "Time for you to do your part of the deal…"

He smirked devilishly at her, as if she was giving him her soul.

"_**Manager-chan**_."

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**Yus! Chapter nine out! Yeah, I was kinda dazed and sleepy when I wrote this, so forgive me for the shitty output.**

**REVIEW?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hiyaaa! I've finally found time to write this chapter after going all out during my intership.**

**00JellaNilzzZ: Hah, the moment I wrote the Karasuno vs Nekoma part, I just knew you'll be the first to react against how I made changes in Karasuno's lineup. I have no excuses: there's no way Tsukki and Hinata would be in the vanguard together, I know one of them are replaced by Nishinoya whenever the rotation calls for it. Then again, since it was meant to be a TsukiHina moment, I wrote the anomaly anyway. **_**Perd**__**ó**__**n, mi amiga**_**.**

**Xxdreamergirl95xX: Ee, I totally agree with you. Kuroo is the epitome of hotness – scratch that, Kuroo is HOTNESS IN HUMAN FORM. *coughs* Sorry for fangirling.**

**RozenSword: Only 1 OTP sweetie, no cheating. **_**Entiende, chica**_**?**

**Everyone Else: AND here's chapter 10, which focuses on KuroHina (and a glimpse of some unnoticed ships worth sailing?). **

**Oh, and I'm kinda changing the timeline as well, extending the Tokyo Arc by adding one more day. Gomen.**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 10: Sherlock – Part 1**

Hinata heaved a sigh. She had made a bet with Nekoma's captain, Tetsurou Kuroo. And she lost to him.

She has to do as he said.

"I'm a man of my word," Hinata spoke seriously. "I'll be your manager until Karasuno wins a match against you."

"You're a – " Kuroo laughed sincerely for the first time that day. "A man of your word! Geez, you're way quirkier than I thought."

To anyone who really knew who Hinata was, what she said was by no means a joke.

_**She's not joking. She was a man after all,**_ Sugawara thought pitifully. Naturally, the second and first years of Karasuno would have thought of Kuroo's naiveté as something hilarious, but at that time not even Kageyama or Tsukishima, or Tanaka and Nishinoya for that matter, would even laugh.

"Very well, you're on our side now," Kuroo beckoned Hinata to gather with the rest of Nekoma. "Come over here, Manager-chan."

"Don't call me that." Hinata said exasperatedly. She did not mind ending up as Nekoma's temporary manager, but being called names was another thing.

"Fine, l'll change it," Kuroo smiled naughtily as he spoke in a low, alluring voice. "Come over here, _honey_."

Hinata grimaced at the new pet name. "No, don't call me that."

Kuroo chuckled softly. "Then Manager-chan it is."

Hinata folded her arms and harrumphed, showing dislike for the names Kuroo was giving her. Her gestures of disapproval, however, only made Kuroo's smile wider.

"We're having another practice game, Manager-chan, we need your assistance!"

"Stop calling me names!"

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"You think she'll be fine over there, senpai?" Nishinoya asked Sugawara worryingly.

Sugawara glanced at Nekoma's bench area, now in a different court, as the cats were about to face Ubugawa. Hinata was immediately up to the task of being the team manager: assisting the players, following the coach's orders, watching the game with sheer keenness. So far, the little gingerhead was doing well.

"She's safe," Sugawara spoke softly. "I think that's what matters."

He returned his gaze at the libero, who now looked unusually sullen. It was disturbing to see Nishinoya in such a state, knowing that he was naturally a cheerful person.

_**I hope this wouldn't affect the game…**_

"Cheer up!" Sugawara spoke with as much enthusiasm as he could have. "It's just for the meantime."

"Yeah, but…" Noya stared at Hinata, who was now handing a towel to Yamamoto, who received it shyly and gratefully at the same time.

"Hey," Sugawara smiled at him. "Just prepare yourself for the match tomorrow. If we win against Nekoma, we'll get her back."

At this, Nishinoya returned to his determined, energetic self. "Right!"

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Despite lacking experience in managing a team, Hinata was hands-on when it comes to assisting Nekoma. She was quick to give help when the members of the team needed it: whether it was Kuroo getting thirsty, or Yaku who wanted to seal Lev's mouth with packaging tape, or Yamamoto who was giddy with joy upon experiencing having a female manager at last. So far, things were going smoothly, and there was not a single problem that threatened her secret.

"Hina-chan," Inuoka Sou spoke to her while they were sitting on the bench and were watching the other members play. "Shouyou's never told us about you before."

Hinata looked at him nervously. Inuoka was one of her closest friends in Nekoma, after he competitively marked her in her first _Battle at the Trash Heap_ experience. She was Hinata Shouyou back then.

"I…well…" Hinata scratched the back of her head in an effort to come up with a proper reply. "You know my cousin…_**Shouyou**_…he loves talking about volleyball above all things."

Inuoka grinned at her in response. "You could say that…So you play volleyball too? You and your cous' play together?"

"Yeah…we play together ever since we were kids." Hinata found it hard to tell lies, but she did it anyway.

"Do you play for Karasuno's female volleyball team?"

Hinata shook her head. "I belong to the men's volleyball team."

Inuoka gave her an incredulous look. "You know what? You're a better player than a manager, I think. Why don't you join the women's volleyball team instead?"

Apparently, Hinata could not tell him that she was actually a man, hence he cannot play women's volleyball, but since she was keeping it a secret, she made another alibi. "I prefer being in a team with my cousin Shouyou. Besides, I'm more comfortable with my dude friends." She said with an honest smile; she was indeed happy to be with her teammates.

"Whoa, now," Inuoka faked a hurt tone. "Are you saying you're not happy being with us?"

His question caught Hinata off guard, and immediately she got flustered. "N-no! That's not what I meant – you guys are so cool, just like my teammates – "

She was cut off by Inuoka's laugh. Hinata arched her eyebrows at him, unable to understand why he was laughing.

"Did I say something weird?" she asked.

"No," Inuoka replied. "You just look cute when you get flustered like that."

Hinata pursed her lips as she answered, "You're weird."

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Inside the court of Nekoma, Kenma was multi-tasking.

One half of him was busy making strategic tosses to his teammates as they played. So far, everyone was doing well; having a cute female manager somewhat lifted their spirits. Kuroo was more focused now, and Yamamoto's spikes were concentrated and stronger. Even Lev was trying to make a good impression, with his basic moves slowly getting better, and his whip-like spikes more effective.

The other half of Kenma was busy observing the ginger-haired female manager who was on the bench area.

The calm and reserved setter of Nekoma could not help but notice all the similarities Shouko had with her cousin Shouyou. From the way she moves to the way she speaks, even those "Gwaaaah" and "Bwaaaah" that she can't help but babble whenever she sees something unexplainably amazing.

_**They are so similar it's scary.**_

Kenma got even more perturbed after seeing Shouko speak with Inuoka. The way Kenma saw it, Shouko also possessed Shouyou's preternatural ability to easily communicate with anyone.

_**Really scary.**_

"You okay?" Kuroo asked in a sincerely concerned tone.

Kenma glanced at Kuroo, surprised that the bed-haired middle blocker was finally focused enough to notice his surroundings. The recent match against Karasuno had been a test of Kuroo's wits and temper, and even Kenma almost lost his calm.

"I'm fine," Kenma answered. "I'm still baffled by why you risked losing your cool in order to get Shouko as our manager."

"Does it really disturb you that much?" Kuroo said, his tone half-annoyed, half-amused.

"Doesn't it disturb everyone?" Kenma replied, his tone irritated as well. "You totally got out of your way just to make a pass on her."

"Is that so?" Kuroo's lips curled into a devious but charming smile. "But I haven't even started yet."

Kenma frowned at his friend. Surely the front act was more than enough. Kuroo should not do any more whimsical acts to further satisfy his infatuation towards Shouko.

As if he had read his mind (which, considering how long they have been friends, is possible) Kuroo chuckled at Kenma. "Oh, please, don't tell me you're scared of whatever it is I'm about to do," he said.

"I have to be honest," Kenma replied levelly. "I'm petrified just thinking about it."

"Seriously," Kuroo grinned slyly. "There's no need for that. I'll do everything to have a close bond with her."

_**You will do everything?**_ Kenma thought worryingly.

_**Okay, this is seriously scary.**_

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"That was a great game, Kuroo-san!" Hinata stood up from the bench when the players of Nekoma left the court.

"Kuroo-san?" Kuroo raised an eyebrow at the adorable gingerhead beaming sweetly at him. "Don't start with the honorifics, Manager-chan. You make me feel older."

"If that's the case," Hinata handed the captain a clean white towel. "You should stop calling me Manager-chan."

"Why, aren't you a sly one," Kuroo smiled at her.

"Seriously," Hinata said persistently. "If being called Kuroo-san makes you feel older, me being called Manager-chan feels like…" she shrugged, unable to properly describe her emotions. "Like, annoying or something."

"Is that so?" Kuroo was obviously amused by this discussion. At first he thought that Hinata wouldn't talk to him very much after Nekoma defeated Karasuno and he took away her right to play as part of the crows.

_**I might get used to this,**_ Kuroo thought as he covered his happy face with the towel.

"So? Do we have a deal?" Hinata had a wide-eyed, hoping look on her face that Kuroo found so adorable.

Kuroo smirked at her. "Let me think about it."

Hinata pouted her lips in annoyance. "Kuroo-san!"

_**So stubborn.**_

"Fine," Kuroo gave in with a slight frown. "But I find Hinata Shouko too formal."

"Shou-chan," Hinata muttered all of a sudden.

"Excuse me?"

"Shou-chan's my nickname," Hinata smiled at him. "I wouldn't mind being called that."

Kuroo looked into her wide, nut brown eyes for a minute, pondering deeply. Not only did the name Shou-chan suit her, it also sounded very cute.

_**Too cute to be true,**_ Kuroo thought.

"Fine," he told her. Hinata grinned at him in delight.

"Yosh!" she pumped her fist in the air as she finally succeeded. "What shall I call you then?"

"What shall you…call me?" Kuroo was taken aback by the question. The cresthead actually thought about it. "Hmm…"

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There was a strange feeling surrounding the players of Karasuno. It was as if there were gray clouds gathering above their area, forming into a gloomy little storm. It was a natural phenomenon, nevertheless. Their little ball of sunshine was taken from them by Tokyo's cats.

"Why does our area feel so cold?" Yamaguchi wondered.

It was not just Yamaguchi who felt it. Coach Ukai observed his regular players carefully: he had noticed their lack of enthusiasm after they lost to Nekoma.

"This is downright horrible, Coach." It was Takeda, however, who voiced out his thoughts. "They all looked…slightly off."

The coach hated to admit it, but it was true. Everyone seemed to be less happy about training. Kageyama became grumpier, and harder to talk to. Nishinoya became silent, and so did Tanaka. Tsukishima – god knows what that kid was thinking, but he seemed very bored. Even the third years, like Sugawara and Sawamura, lacked the power to lift their spirits up.

_**So this is the effect of Hinata leaving the team?**_ Ukai could not help but wonder what will happen if Hinata's sunlight presence was there.

"Everyone, gather around!" Takeda-sensei shouted all of a sudden.

The regulars gathered around the bespectacled teacher, who folded his arms in a commanding manner which was rather unusual because – well, he's Takeda-sensei.

"I know I'm not good at making strong, uplifting messages," Takeda said softly. "But I would like to say this to you: The blade of a sword will not be formed if the steel is not tempered in fire."

For a moment, the students looked at Takeda as if the teacher had spoken of a prophecy.

Takeda heaved a sigh before explaining. "What I'm trying to say is that the team will not reach its best form if you don't experience the hardship of losing. Learn from your defeat, and be twice better the next battle. Do everything you can."

He wanted to lift the team up after a hated loss, and somehow he managed to do exactly as that.

"You heard Takeda-sensei," Sawamura spoke firmly. "Let's prepare ourselves for more matches!"

"Osu!" the rest of the team shouted.

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Kenma kept on eyeing Hinata as she walked around Nekoma's bench area, doing the stuff managers normally do. He had heard her lively discussion with Kuroo, and was baffled after that.

_**Even their nicknames at home?**_ Kenma thought suspiciously. He had known that Shouyou uses the nickname Shou-chan for a long time, although only some close friends and relatives call him that.

_**Wouldn't it be confusing if they use the same nickname?**_

Kenma tried to eavesdrop some more as he pretended to be resting on one end of the bench, while Hinata and Kuroo chatted on the other end. The captain and the gingerhead had been quiet for some time after trying to come up with a nickname for Kuroo.

"How about Kuro-chan?" Hinata said.

"Kuro-chan?" Kuroo was blushing, much to Kenma's utter surprise. "That sounds…affectionate."

"Huh?" Hinata had no idea what the captain was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"'Kinda sounds like a pet name to me." Kuroo would never want to be called pet names in public. He found it awkward.

Hinata grinned sheepishly at Kuroo. "Then you're my pet kitty!"

And then the strangest natural phenomenon happened before Kenma's eyes. The oh-so-cool captain of Nekoma High Men's Volleyball Team, Tetsurou Kuroo, has the reddest face all of a sudden. It was as if all of his blood went straight into the cresthead's handsome face.

It was priceless.

Kenma thought about pulling out his smartphone and taking a photo, but it was too late when he had made up his mind. Kuroo had already returned to his cool self.

"Hey, you're the one who lost," Kuroo told Hinata. "Shouldn't you be MY pet instead?"

"Nope, Kuro-chan sounds more like a pet name, so you're the pet." Hinata answered, sticking her tongue out as to end their dispute.

Kuroo mumbled something about Shou-chan sounding like a name for a pet bird like a robin or something, but he did not press the issue any further.

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"It seems like she's having a great time," Tsukishima muttered all of a sudden.

The tall blonde's remark made Kageyama turn his head towards the bench area of Nekoma, where Hinata currently was. The genius setter saw Hinata chatting with Kuroo, smiling happily as they talked about something funny – whether it was a joke or whatever, he had no idea. Kageyama found it heartwarming to see Hinata's smile, but he got irritated at the sight of Kuroo smiling at her.

"Jealous now, are we?"

Kageyama gave Tsukishima an angry look. "Shut up, Glasses."

"Calm, down, Your Majesty," Tsukishima spoke with a smug look on his face. "I didn't want this to happen, either."

Kageyama raised an eyebrow, wondering if Tsukishima did somewhat tried to fight for Hinata during the practice game against Nekoma. He himself fought with everything he had.

_**If I didn't, I'd lose Hinata right away, **_Kageyama said to himself.

Kageyama shook himself for a minute. Did he just say he did not want to lose the annoying Hinata Shouyou?

_**What the hell was I thinking?**_

"What do you mean, you did not want this to happen?" Kageyama asked out of curiosity. Tsukishima stared him wide-eyed for a minute, before suddenly leaving him alone.

_**Weird eyeglasses-wearing jerk,**_ Kageyama thought.

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During lunch break, Karasuno swarmed all around Hinata, as if she had been gone away for a decade.

"HINATA!" Nishinoya wailed, almost hugging the gingerhead but thought better of it after seeing Sugawara smiling **_meaningfully_** at him.

"Are you okay?!" Tanaka asked loudly. "If any of those jerks did something wrong to you, tell me! I'm gonna hurt 'em!"

Hinata simply smiled, feeling quite happy that some of her teammates actually missed her.

"How's it like to be a manager for Nekoma?" Sugawara asked inquiringly.

"It's not bad," Hinata answered. "I mean, they're just as noisy as our team members are."

"So you did not miss us then?!" Sawamura faked a hurt tone.

"EH?! It's not like that, captain!" Hinata wailed, flustered all of a sudden. "Of course, I prefer being with you guys." she smiled sweetly at everyone, and all of a sudden, the gloomy storm was replaced with bright sunshine.

Nishinoya grinned at her in return. "I'm glad to hear that!"

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Meanwhile, the members of Nekoma had gathered around their table to have lunch. Kuroo had allowed Hinata to take her seat among the crows; after all, he was someone who's in love, not a sadist.

"I never thought that having a cute female manager could lift my spirit up high!" Yamamoto almost had tears of joy in his eyes.

"I have to admit, Shouko's pretty good at doing her job," Yaku murmured.

"I'm glad you liked the incentive," Kuroo spoke with a lopsided grin. He then glanced at Kenma, whose eyes were gazing at Karasuno's table.

"What's the matter?"

"Well…" Kenma looked at his tall bedhead of a friend and frowned. "What if…"

There was a hesitation in his voice, as if he was about to say something ridiculous, and he knew it.

Kuroo arched his eyebrows in wonder. "What if what?"

"What if Shouko's actually Shouyou in a girl's body?" Kenma asked.

For a moment, Kuroo stared at the other boy, face frozen while taking in the question. Then the bedhead suddenly chuckled softly at him.

"Kenma," Kuroo said. "Stop playing videogames."

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**Hehe, this is part 1! So how will Kenma find out about Hinata's secret? And how the hell will Kageyama and Tsukishima understand their feelings toward our gender-bended ginger-haired beauty?  
**

**Mind if you leave a suggestion?**

**Oh, and who among you guys are members of KnB World group on Facebook? Just wondering.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Yo!**

**shittyboy: Yeah, you said the "Then you're my pet kitty" part twice XDD but it's okay, it simply meant that you liked that part.**

**NLockheart: How come my fic is illegal? XDD Please don't sue me. I already received a death threat from one of my reviewers, saying she'd shoot me dead if I don't finish my fic…**

**Everyone Else: I think Kuroo's becoming OOC here, but my only excuse is that…well…love can change someone's personality – sometimes, but not all the time.**

**KenHina shippers: WHO TOLD YOU THAT I'M SINKING KENHINA? The ship has barely sailed! I told you to have faith in me, remember? *sad face***

_**Dio Mio**_**, now I have to slightly shift the plot.**

**I had a change of plans. **

**Here's part 2 of Kenma's investigation…and more of the yandere Kuroo XDD**

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 11: Sherlock – Part 2**

Kenma knew it was a stupid idea to tell Kuroo of his assumption. But he told him anyway. And all he got was a mocking warning to stop playing videogames.

_**Never thought there will be a time when I'd call Kuroo an idiot,**_ Kenma thought in irritation.

But it's not like Kuroo would actually agree to Kenma when he said that Hinata Shouko might be Hinata Shouyou in female form. It was not possible, anyway. Or so they thought. But there were too many similarities between the girl and her cousin that they might as well become a single person. It was the thing that bothered Kenma the most.

_**How can two different people be a hundred percent alike?**_

Still, Kenma could not reach a conclusion without proper evidence. Only, he had no idea what kind of evidence he was looking for. Thus, despite the risk of being annihilated by Kuroo, Kenma began to spend the afternoon keeping an eye on Hinata like a scientist observing a unique specimen in the wild.

"Hina-chan?" Yamamoto called Hinata sheepishly. "Can I have water?"

"Okay," Hinata quickly grabbed a bottle of water and gave it to the Mohawk-haired spiker.

"Thanks," Yamamoto said coyly, before leaving.

Truth be told, it would be a lot easier if Kenma would directly ask Hinata if she was really Shouyou in disguise. But Kenma feared two things: one, that just like Kuroo, Hinata would only laugh at him for saying such an absurd thing, and two, that she would feel insulted and slap his face the way she would spike a volley ball. Hence he had decided to simply rely on his observations and analyze whatever data he manages to gather.

To further prove his assumptions, Kenma decided to form a little psychological experiment.

"Shouyou," Kenma called the female Hinata. He used the wrong name on purpose; he wanted to know how the girl would react.

Immediately, Hinata turned his way, eyes looking at him directly. Her gaze suddenly made Kenma feel uneasy.

_**Those familiar eyes…**_

For a moment, Hinata Shouko looked stunned, as if something shocking has unraveled before her. But she then said, "Did you just…shout my cousin's name out loud?"

Kenma let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Yeah…sorry, I…mistook him for you."

"Kenma, that's kinda insulting!" Haiba Lev shouted all of a sudden, surprising Hinata and irritating Kenma at the same time. "How could you mistake a beautiful girl for someone else?!"

"Lev-san…" Hinata smiled awkwardly at the lanky silver-haired boy, as if she being called beautiful was unheard of.

Then, like a wild missile fired from out of nowhere, an overpowered spike hit Lev's head, almost knocking him.

"My bad," Kuroo shouted half-heartedly. Kenma glowered at the mischievous captain.

The bedhead apologized to the half-Russian, saying his hand slipped, but Kenma doubted it; it was too damn accurate to be called a mistake. Plus, he noticed the hint of smile on Kuroo's face when he said sorry to Lev.

Putting Kuroo's childishness aside, Kenma focused on the face Hinata had made just a while ago.

It was Kenma's first evidence.

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"Oi," Yamamoto nudged Yaku while they were sitting on the bench during a time out. "Don't you notice something wrong?"

"What?" Yaku raised an eyebrow. The Mohawkhead simply pointed at Kenma, who was eyeing Nekoma's cute temporary manager intently. There was something about the intensity in Kenma's wide, innocent eyes that they found unusual.

"What do you think?" Yamamoto asked worryingly.

"What do I think? I don't see anything wrong," Yaku answered plainly.

"But there is something wrong! I think _**he likes her...**_" Yamamoto hissed, his eyes blinking away tears of desperation.

"Seriously, you're out of your mind..." Yaku said in irritation, although he could not help but be curious all of a sudden. Knowing Kenma, the usually quiet boy spent almost all of his free time playing videogames. No one had ever wondered if Nekoma's setter even had his own type of girl. Maybe Kenma liked cute, petite girls like Shouko? If so, then it wouldn't be that hard for him to ask her out; her cousin Shouyou was a close friend of Kenma's, after all.

Yaku observed Kenma further, and noticed the unusual reactions that the boy made while Hinata was moving around. Kenma seemed to enjoy watching the lovely ginger-haired girl from afar. With every expression Hinata Shouko made, Kenma had a reaction. It was as if the boy found the girl's every movement a surprise.

_**What's this? Unrequited love?**_ Yaku pitied Kenma right at that moment.

"Kenma needs help," he muttered all of a sudden, earning him a look from Yamamoto.

_**Who's out of his mind now?**_ The mohawkhead thought in annoyance.

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"Kenma," Yaku approached the setter, who was still eyeing Hinata Shouko intently. "Do you…is there something – anything you would like to tell us?"

Kenma looked at Yaku with wide, wondering eyes then looked at Yamamoto, who was standing behind them. He suddenly came up with another plan to gather enough evidence that would prove his assumption right.

"Actually, I could use some help right now…" Kenma spoke tentatively.

"Really? What kind of help?" Yaku sounded unusually earnest. Kenma glanced at Yamamoto once again, and the mohawkhead looked weird as well.

"Um…well…" Kenma was unsure whether he could trust his two teammates to do the job. "I want to find out what Hinata thinks of her teammates in Karasuno."

"The guys from Karasuno?" Yaku arched his eyebrows.

_**Meaning Kageyama and the other boys around Shouko…Wait, Kenma's sizing up his rivals? Just as expected from an intelligent boy like him. We must help him know who his opponents are, **_Yaku thought.

"We'll do our best!" Yaku spoke a little too energetically.

"We?!" Yamamoto whined, aghast.

"…Are you guys sure you're okay?" Kenma could not help but ask worryingly.

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Yaku Morisuke was not a very sweet person compared to the rest of Nekoma, but he sure could be a thoughtful person sometimes. In this case, however, his thoughtfulness was totally out of place. Not to mention, the cause of it was a total misunderstanding of the situation.

"Shouko," Nekoma's libero approached Hinata. Yamamoto followed behind, looking too nervous to even speak. "Mind if we ask you a question?"

"Why did you drag me into this…?" Yamamoto muttered.

"Sure. What is it?" Hinata asked amiably. Looking into her bright eyes and adorable smile, Yaku was certain that Kenma was having the challenge of his life: confessing his feelings towards this sunny little lady.

_**Gotta try my best to help…**_

"Err – well…" Yaku scratched his head shyly, not knowing where to start. "Um, what does Shouko think of the guys from Karasuno team?"

"What do I think of…Kageyama and the others, you mean?" Hinata placed a hand on her chin as she looked up, thinking about it. "Well…they're very cool people, even Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei," She smiled at Yaku warmly. "They're noisy and wild and all that, but as teammates, they'll always be there for you. Plus, they don't give up at all. That's what I like most about them."

Judging by the way she spoke of the guys from Karasuno, Yaku was already sure that Kenma was going to have to fight hard for love.

"B-by the way, what do you like about a person the most?" he went on asking.

"What do I like about a person the most?" Hinata raised an eyebrow. "Well, I like someone who loves volleyball!"

_**Too general.**_ "Anything else?" Yaku inquired.

"Is there anything else…" Hinata thought deeply. "Hmm…" She smiled at him afterwards.

"Nope. Just the love for volleyball is fine."

Yaku just had to facepalm himself in his mind. This little gingerhead was a total challenge for _**any guy**_.

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"I don't see what you liked about her," Yaku told Kenma. "I mean, if volleyball became a human being she would've married it."

_**Evidence number two, check,**_ Kenma said to himself triumphantly.

"What did she say about her teammates?" Kenma asked.

"Nice stuff," Yaku shrugged. "She praised their noise and persistence."

Kenma could not understand much of Yaku's remarks, but he found the information slightly useful anyway.

"So she's the type of girl who's way into sports…" the setter muttered thoughtfully.

"Oh, totally," Yaku sighed. "She probably would be happy if you go out on a date – to a volleyball court, that is."

At this, a smile suddenly formed on Kenma's lips as another idea came into mind. "Right."

Yaku glanced at Kenma, shocked to see such an expression on the setter's usually passive face.

_**My god, he must be in love with her.**_

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It took Kenma a lot of time before he was able to speak to Hinata. Actually, he was just taking his time, waiting for Kuroo to disappear before he could finally have Hinata all to himself.

"Shouko," Kenma spoke weakly. He was slightly shaking, as he was unsure of his plan. He was the type who plans, and not the one who does the dirty work.

"Yes?" Hinata asked, unaware of the boy's nervousness.

"Err…" Kenma could feel his own heart ramming itself against his ribcage. "You know…I think…I could use some help with practice…"

"You want to practice?" there was overflowing joy in Hinata's naturally cheerful tone.

"Like…real volleyball practice? You want me to assist you in practice?" Hinata's brown eyes widened; she was not used to seeing Kenma deciding to spend his energy in practicing volleyball. She could not suppress a giddy smile at him.

"I'll help you out! Wanna do it after the practice games?"

Her sweet smile ignited something warm inside of Kenma. For some reason he could not understand, Nekoma's setter could feel his cheeks burn.

_**I'm blushing?**_ Kenma thought in wonder. _**I don't get it.**_

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When does Kozume Kenma get peeved the most? It was when things don't go according to his plan. One good example of this would be his supposed private training session with Hinata Shouko after the practice games.

How does one know that Kenma was in a nasty mood at that time? It was pretty obvious in the way he glared at Tetsurou Kuroo, who was standing beside Hinata as they were waiting for the setter in a smaller gymnasium that evening.

"What are you doing here, Kuroo?" Kenma could no longer control the annoyance he felt.

Kuroo grinned from ear to ear, rather enjoying how he got into his childhood friend's nerves. "I'm here to help."

"How did you find out about this?"

"Uh, well…" Hinata scratched her head and smiled. "I ran into Kuro-chan on my way here, and I told him that you needed assistance in practicing."

Kenma scowled at Kuroo, who was smiling triumphantly in return.

_**I should've asked her to keep it a secret, **_Kenma thought regretfully.

Nekoma's setter sighed. There was nothing he could do about Kuroo. The bedhead would find it out later on anyway.

"You hurt my feelings, Kenma," Kuroo feigned a sad face. "You did not ask me to help you in practicing your toss…you sought Shou-chan's assistance instead."

Kenma could totally feel the venom dripping out of every word that came out of Kuroo's mouth as he spoke in a deadly voice.

_**I'm screwed. Or worse, I think I'm about to be murdered,**_ Kenma thought in horror.

_**God, why didn't I ask her to keep it a secret in the first place?**_

Kuroo, seeing how petrified his friend was, laughed joyously.

"Oh, jeez, Kenma, you're not going to war!" he said. "You're only here to train with us!"

"Kuro-chan's right!" Hinata agreed. Kenma could see Kuroo smiling whenever she called him by his new nickname.

_**That's good, Hinata, keep calling him that.**_

"So," Kuroo picked up a volleyball from a nearby basket. "Let's begin."

Hinata nodded cheerfully at the captain. Kenma, on the other hand, moaned under his breath.

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At that time, Nishinoya was hiding somewhere outside the gym watching Hinata and Kuroo help Kenma in practicing his tosses. Although it was more like watching Kuroo torment Kenma while Hinata had no idea what was going on. Nishinoya could only shudder while seeing how harsh the training Kenma was undertaking. Apparently, Nekoma's captain spares no man, not even his own friend.

_**Merciless…**_ Noya thought in amazement and fear.

Nishinoya was glad he came to the gym late. He was planning to practice tossing as well, seeing that the libero of one of their opponent teams had done it before in one of the games. He just happened to find Hinata, Kuroo and Kenma in the gym. He had quickly noticed the tension in the air and had decided not to intervene.

"Noya-san?"

"Gyah!" Nishinoya jolted in surprise. He quickly looked over his shoulder and saw Kageyama. The raven-haired setter had a towel over his shoulder, and was staring at the Guardian Deity in wonder.

"What are you doing there, Noya-san?" Kageyama asked.

"Ssh," Noya placed a finger on his own lips. "The devil's gonna hear us…"

Kageyama raised an eyebrow, wondering who was the devil Nishinoya was talking about was. Karasuno's libero hugged the wall and peered into the gym stealthily, and the setter did the same.

"What's Hinata doing with those two?" Kageyama barely controlled the level of his voice.

"Ssh," Nishinoya said, "Hinata and Kuroo are training Kenma. Although torturing is the better verb."

Kageyama could very well see what his senpai meant. Kenma was on the verge of passing out, and Kuroo and Hinata were still energetically "persuading" the boy to play. Such was the deadly training pair of Hinata Shouyou and Tetsurou Kuroo.

"What are you two doing?" a voice spoke behind the two boys.

Surprisingly, Tsukishima passed by and saw Kageyama and Nishinoya peeking into the gym. The blonde middle blocker gave the two of them a derisive look, as if he had seen two monkeys performing in a circus. Kageyama glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Kageyama asked in a hostile tone.

"I was about to go out and take a walk," Tsukishima answered coolly. "So what are you doing?"

"Why don't you two quiet down?" Noya whispered angrily. "If the cresthead catches us, we're – "

"You're gonna scram, or you're gonna be screwed," Kuroo finished the sentence with an air of threat. The three crows stood frozen in the corridor, staring at Nekoma's captain wide-eyed in surprise.

"Who's there, Kuro-chan?" Hinata suddenly appeared from behind Kuroo. "Eh? Noya-san?" she was surprised upon seeing Nishinoya, who smiled awkwardly at her in greeting.

"Kageyama and Tsukki? Why are you here?"

The three boys were thinking quickly of an alibi and an excuse to leave, but Kuroo did not give them time.

"They're here to practice with us," Kuroo said with a smirk.

"Really? Great!" Hinata spoke happily.

"Uh, no – we're actually leaving – " Nishinoya was about to run, but Kuroo had already grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him inside the gym.

"Oh, come on, don't be shy!" Kuroo said with a wicked smile. "I've seen you watching us all this time; I know you wanted to practice…"

"Kageyama, Tsukki, you too!" Hinata added. Kageyama and Tsukishima had no choice, not when Kuroo was staring at them like a demon ready to rip out their innards, and the angelic Hinata was already pushing them into the gym.

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Kenma's scowl deepened when he saw Kageyama, Tsukishima and Nishinoya enter the gym. Kuroo had dragged more of his rivals into one hell of a training session – the hell word was meant to be literal.

"We can play three versus three," Hinata suggested.

"Right," Kuroo agreed.

And when the teams were arranged into groups of three, not only was Kenma the one frowning, but Kageyama and Tsukishima as well. Kuroo had grouped himself with Hinata and Kenma, while Kageyama was grouped with Tsukishima and Nishinoya.

"We're a balanced team," Kuroo said in a satisfied tone.

"Why am I getting the feeling you're doing this on purpose?" Kenma muttered.

"No, I'm not," Kuroo answered with an innocent (but still demonic) smile. "Let's play, shall we?"

"He's obviously doing this on purpose," Tsukishima murmured.

"I swear I have a bad feeling about this," Nishinoya shuddered.

"Tell me about it," Kageyama couldn't agree more.

And they practiced till the boys were exhausted, much to Kuroo's satisfaction.

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It was an evening of torture for Kenma. He learned a lesson, at least: he learned to be careful not to cross Kuroo of all people. The cresthead could only be so subtle when it comes to settling a score with a friend.

Extremely exhausted, Kenma trod out of the gym, walking far behind Kuroo, Kageyama, Nishinoya and Tsukishima. The three boys of Karasuno were very tired as well, judging from the way they dragged themselves out of the building. Kenma doubt that Karasuno would have enough power to fight tomorrow.

"Kenma," Hinata said.

Nekoma's intelligent setter looked over his shoulder, remembering the reason why he wanted to practice in the first place. Hinata was standing behind him, her lovely face brightening up the supposedly gloomy gym with her sunny smile.

"I'm glad you asked me to help you practice," she told Kenma. "I hope we could do this again."

"I…don't think I'm in for another round after this…" Kenma answered in a weary tone. Deep inside his heart, the boy badly wanted to directly ask her the question that has been bothering him ever since the day he first saw her.

_**No more beating around the bush, Kenma.**_

Taking the chance once the other boys had left the gym, Kenma took up all his courage to ask that one question that had been invading his mind.

"Hinata, I'm sorry if I offend you with this question," Kenma finally said. "Who are you, really? Are you Shouyou in a girl's body?"

Kenma straightened himself, preparing to be slapped or laughed at by the girl. The reaction that came out of Hinata Shouko, however, was the last thing he had ever expected.

She was crying in front of him, all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry," Hinata said, her brown eyes flooded with tears. "I'm really, really, sorry that I lied…"

For a moment, Kenma waited for the girl to say "April Fools!" or whatsoever. He thought Shouko was joking. But the girl's tearful eyes tell nothing but honest apology.

Hinata's peerless honesty. Kenma's last evidence.

_**Holy shit.**_

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**Well…I doubt Kenma would use swear words or anything, but who knows how he will react if he finds out that the ginger head girl who's been the apple of every guy's eye was actually a dude?**

**BTW please join Haikyuu! World on facebook, it's a new group meant for all the HQ! fans out there. :3**

**Anyway, review?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Yo! I guess my plot did not go exactly as I had…plotted. I put KenHina in the middle of a KuroHina arc, which distorted my concept of TsukiHina versus KuroHina, so there will be inevitable changes. But it's not like things won't get better after this. **

**Now that KenHina shippers are assured that their otp hadn't sunk yet, I'm back on track.**

**Next-Next chapter: the long awaited crack ship OiHina versus the ever favorite KageHina.**

**But before that, THIS. :3**

**Surprise, surprise. *mischievous laugh***

**Douzo!**

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**Chapter 12: Twenty Seconds (Part One)**

It was the probably the most eventful evening of all for Kenma. Right after his childhood friend tormented him through more than an hour of tedious training, said friend's crush confessed that she's actually a dude.

If zombies would claw their way out from underground that same night, Kenma wouldn't even blink an eye in surprise.

If anything, Kenma was rather disappointed that Hinata Shouyou had not told him of his condition right away. Not that Kenma was the type who pries into the lives of his friends. He had just hoped that the gingerhead shrimp would have been honest to him.

_**Shouyou shouldn't have bothered lying to me,**_ Kenma thought. He could not deny it; he was slightly upset. Sure, he and Shouyou may not have bonded as long as he and the folks from Nekoma did, but they have been friends for quite a long time, and they have always been maintaining something which Kuroo had once called "long distance friendship".

_**Kuroo.**_ Now that Hinata had told Kenma the truth, Nekoma's setter could not help but feel apprehensive.

_**Just how am I supposed to tell him the truth?**_

He was afraid of how Kuroo would react to the news. Knowing him, Kenma was certain that it will take time before the bedhead gets convinced.

_**And if he finds out, what will he do?**_

Kenma's face cast a shadow as he trod gloomily down the corridor on his way to the sleeping quarters. He was extremely worried with both of his friends.

_**Both of them will only get hurt. Kuroo must learn the truth right away. But…who am I to reveal Shouyou's secret?**_

His thoughts dissolved when he reached the sleeping quarters. The regulars of Nekoma shared a spacious room. There were sleeping mats already spread on the floor. A lot of the boys were still awake, either fooling around or doing their own stuff. Kenma found Kuroo standing by the window, talking with someone over the phone.

"…the new sets of uniform?" Kuroo asked. He was gazing outside the window, lazily toying with the hem of his pillow, which he was hugging under one arm. "You want me to go check them tomorrow?"

Kenma stood in his place, waiting for his friend to recognize his presence. Kuroo, however, had his back against him, not noticing him as he went on talking.

"No problem," Kuroo said lightheartedly. "But…I can bring someone with me, right? Like, a team member…or manager?"

Kenma could feel his heartbeat quicken its pace as a terrifying feeling crept over him.

"Okay, I'll do it," Kuroo said, before saying goodbye and ending the phone call. It was then that he had finally noticed Kenma standing behind him.

"Hey there!" Kuroo was smiling jovially. Kenma found it a bad omen.

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Although he went through hell when Kuroo had caught him and the other boys peeking outside the gym, Kageyama was unable to sleep, much to his surprise. His body was already begging him to get some rest, but his mind was in the mood for a night stroll outside the sleeping quarters before lights out. Mind won over the body in the end. He had decided to go to the restroom to wash his face even if he was done taking a bath.

He came across Hinata on his way to the lavatory.

"Oi – " Kageyama did not finish his greeting upon noticing Hinata's face. The little gingerhead was a mess, although judging from the dripping water on the tips of her hair she had already cleaned herself up. Her eyes were red from crying, and her cheeks and nose were flushed as well.

The raven-haired setter's immediate reaction was to get angry. "Did Kuroo do something to you?"

"What?" Hinata was shocked at his question. "No! Kuro-chan he – he did not do anything wrong – "

"Then why have you been crying?" there was panic and concern in Kageyama's voice this time. The angry look on his face quickly softened into that of affection and worry which Hinata naturally was not used to seeing.

Hinata gave him a smile, assuring him that everything was all right.

"It's…a long story," she said to Kageyama. "Well…it isn't very long, but still…let's go talk somewhere else."

Kageyama complied, and they walked outside the building together. They went to the lawn nearby the outdoor volleyball court. Kageyama gazed at his surroundings and quietly enjoyed the night scenery as he waited for Hinata to speak.

"Kenma asked me if I am Hinata Shouyou," Hinata began after taking a deep breath. "I told him the truth."

Panic welled within Kageyama right away. He stared at Hinata, who was looking upon the dark sky dreamily. She resembled a fairy, a sylph who was out to play and delight in the beauty of nature that beautiful evening.

"W-what happened exactly?" Kageyama asked. He was unable to keep himself from stuttering. "How did he react to the news?"

Hinata looked into his eyes and shrugged, "Kenma had no reaction whatsoever. I kinda think he's had hunches about my identity long ago."

"He's a smart guy, after all…" Kageyama grumbled.

"Surprisingly enough, he promised not to tell anyone," Hinata added. Kageyama gave her a puzzled look.

"Why?" Kageyama asked, his tone betraying a hint of disappointment. He had been hopeful that Kenma would tell Kuroo right away.

"I don't know," Hinata answered. "But knowing him, maybe he just didn't want to poke his nose into other people's business."

Their discussion was followed by a long moment of silence. Kageyama was having a hard time coming up with something else to say, some sort of witty remark like the ones Tsukishima usually come up with, or an encouragement like Nishinoya or Sugawara always tell everyone.

In the end, the raven-haired setter simply followed his instinct.

Instinct, however, had decided to stroke Hinata's soft sunfire of a mane of all things.

"What are you doing?" Hinata glanced at Kageyama, whose hand quickly darted away from her hair as soon as he realized what he was doing.

"N-n-n-nothing!" Kageyama blurted out while blushing. "G-g-g-go to sleep already, dumbass!"

Hinata stared at him for a moment, before making a face.

"Whatever," she said, grumbling as she walked back into the building on her own.

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Hinata woke up a little too early the other day because of hunger – she had dreamt that she was eating a giant meatbun – and she woke up with her stomach growling like a monster. Hence she went straight to the kitchen to shut the thunderous noise coming from her tummy.

But when she went to the kitchen, breakfast was not prepared yet. The female managers were the ones who do the cooking, but all of them were still in their own quarter, sound asleep. Hinata knew this because apparently she had to share a room with the ladies.

Hinata had felt better after she had finally told Kenma the truth, thus she was in a very good mood that morning. She had decided to cook breakfast for herself so that she wouldn't have to bother waking other people up. Hinata took out everything that can be used to make breakfast and cooked a meal for herself. Eggs on rice had always been a favorite of hers, as well as some fish, octopus hotdogs and other delectable stuff that her mother always made for her and for her little sister every morning.

"Oh? You're the cute manager whom Kuroo-san snatched away from Karasuno!" shouted an overenthusiastic voice.

Hinata had to look up from the bowl where she had been beating the eggs and saw silver hair, sharp eyes and a bright smile. Haiba Lev, the rookie of Nekoma, had suddenly barged into the kitchen, looking at her in amazement.

"Good morning," was all Hinata could reply.

"You're cooking? That's cool!" Lev's voice was loud enough to wake everyone. Hinata simply smiled at him and went back to her business.

Nekoma's self-proclaimed ace watched her as she went around in the kitchen, slicing, frying and so on. Hinata did not mind his presence at first, but soon she felt slightly uneasy because he seemed to be following her every move.

"Uh…" Hinata glanced at him. "Is there anything you need?"

Lev grinned at her sheepishly, "Nothing. Are you cooking only for yourself?"

_**Ah. He's hungry. **_Hinata thought. She could not help but smile.

"Yes, but I think I cooked a little too much," Hinata replied amiably. "Want to share a meal?"

Lev did not even bother to hide his delight. He waited for Hinata until she had finally finished cooking breakfast. He even helped in setting up the dishes, as he was that excited to eat. Soon they were sitting at a table and having their first meal of the day.

"This tastes like HEAVEN!" Lev spoke with his mouth full, his face openly saying how much he had liked Hinata's cooking. "It's so good, I can't even – " he gobbled another mouthful.

Hinata smiled at him while she ate, happy that the boy appreciated the meal very well.

It only took Lev five minutes to finish his breakfast. He sighed in satisfaction as he stroked his full tummy.

"What a great way to start the day," Lev said complacently. "Those dudes from Karasuno are lucky to have you in their team! You must be making them bento and all those good food all the time."

"No, not really," Hinata replied sheepishly.

"Whaaaat?" Lev whined in disbelief. "Those guys are missing half of their lives!"

Hinata scratched the back of her head and smiled coyly at him. She knew she can cook, but she was not used to getting compliments about it.

"Hehe…thanks…" she blushed in embarrassment.

Lev fell silent upon seeing the shy look on her face. For a moment, Hinata wondered if she had said something wrong.

"What's the matter?" she asked worryingly.

Lev leaned forward, his face merely a few inches away from Hinata's face. The gingerhead suddenly felt uneasy.

"Are you and Kuroo-san an item or something?" Lev asked out of the blue.

"E-eh?" Hinata was clearly taken aback by the question.

"You know, if you don't like Kuroo-san, maybe I – " Lev no longer got to finish his sentence as a swift hand came out of nowhere and made its way to close his mouth.

"You really babble a lot every morning, Lev," Kuroo said with a friendly smile. Lev's face was a picture of horror, which Hinata (being an idiot) could not understand.

Lev thrashed about, trying to remove the scheming captain's hand away from his mouth.

"Eh? What did you say?" Kuroo's face was bright as the morning, but his tone was dark as an abyss. "You're gonna run 30 laps around the gym? That's so hardworking of you..."

Lev gave a muffled protest in reply.

"What? 50 laps?" Kuroo grinned from ear to ear. "As expected from an aspiring ace like yourself!"

"50 laps? Cool!" Hinata spoke excitedly. "I wanna be an ace too! Lev, let's go outside and run together!"

Kuroo narrowed his eyes at the lovely ginger-haired girl and smiled wryly.

"Oh no you won't, Shou-chan," Kuroo said. "We're going somewhere today."

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Around seven in the morning, the lady managers in the sleeping quarters had just woken up when they saw Hinata digging into her huge duffel bag.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" Shimizu asked. She crawled out of her sleeping mattress and put her eyeglasses on.

"Nothing," Hinata did not even glance at the girl as she went on fumbling into her bag. "I'm just…searching for decent clothes…"

"Huh?" Yachi was puzzled, partly because she was still sleepy. She had to rub the sleep off her eyes. "What for, Hinata?"

"I'm…going out…" Hinata suddenly yelled in irritation. Soon the other girls gathered around her looking worried.

"What's wrong, Hina-chan?"

"Did you lose something important?"

"What happened?"

Hinata looked at them tearfully, "I'm going to a sports shop with Kuro-chan and I'm looking for something casual to wear but I think my mother meddled with my clothes and now I have nothing else to wear but a dress…"

"A dress?" Yachi and Shimizu were surprised. The other girls, however, squealed like there's no tomorrow.

"Hina-chan and Kuroo-san?" one of them gushed.

"Are you two on a date?" another asked. "Kyaa!"

"What? No!" Hinata's face was red as a tomato. She could not believe what she was hearing. "A date with a guy? What are you girls thinking?"

"Look, Hina-chan's blushing!"

"How cute!"

"Let us help you get prepare for your special day."

"What?" Hinata was terrified – scratched that, she was petrified. He stared desperately at Shimizu and Yachi for help.

"Sorry," Yachi said with an apologetic smile. "There's no stopping these girls from giving anyone a makeover."

"EH?!" Hinata was dumbstruck. Her face became as white as a clean sheet of paper in horror.

"I actually want to see how this will turn out," Shimizu murmured unhelpfully.

"S-shimizu-san, why are you saying that?!" Hinata wailed.

Hence Hinata was dragged away by the other female managers into her nightmare of being misunderstood.

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.

Kenma miraculously woke up earlier than the rest of the team, with the exception of Kuroo and Lev. This was very unfortunate for Kenma, because his initial plan had been to wake up very early so he could warn Hinata about the scheming captain's plan and stop her from going out with him.

Hence Nekoma's setter had to use up all his stored energy (he has a lot of energy, much to his own surprise) to jump over the sleeping bodies of all his other team members and dashed out of the sleeping quarters and ran to the room where the girls slept.

He was way too late.

By the time Kenma made it to the girl's quarters, Hinata was all prepped up to visit the sports store with Kuroo.

And, boy, wasn't she all ready to go.

Hinata looked like a wingless angel in the knee-length pure white baby doll dress (it was the dress her mother had so shrewdly put into her bag) she was wearing. Her usually wild sunfire hair was now all combed and made up, with a feather clip on one side to keep the hair away from her face.

"Oh, man, this can't be happening…" Hinata was blushing from embarrassment. Kenma stared at her from head to toe, absolutely speechless. He had forgotten his agenda all of a sudden.

"D-don't be shy, Hina-chan!" Yachi blurted out as a form of encouragement. "You look very pretty!"

"Oh, please don't say that…" Hinata hid her face in her hands in an effort to hide her shame.

"S-shou…" Kenma found it hard to regain his ability to speak. "What is going on?"

"Hinata's going to a date with Kuroo-san," spoke one of the girls excitedly.

"I already told you, it's not a date!" Hinata wailed in annoyance.

_**For you, it isn't, **_Kenma thought worryingly.

"It will turn out like that anyway," added another girl.

"Tell us what happened once you return, okay?"

Hinata sighed in defeat. "I don't know what to do anymore…"

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Tsukishima was going to brush his teeth when he passed by the girls' sleeping quarters and noticed the commotion happening.

He noticed Hinata in her white dress, too. In fact, it was the very reason why he stood frozen in the corridor that morning.

Tsukishima had already known for a long time that Hinata as a girl can effortlessly become the object of affection of many young men. He had already observed it happening among his team mates, and to him they looked like victims of ebola or some other epidemic disease. If he would analyze things as if he was a doctor, Tsukishima would say that Kageyama was having a severe case of the Hinata ebola, and there was no chance of recovery for the setter. The blond had also noticed Nishinoya getting too fond of the gingerhead – but then the libero had always been too friendly to tell. Then there was Kuroo, who did not even try to hide his feelings, albeit Hinata never seem to notice. The setter Kenma – Tsukishima was uncertain of it yet, because Nekoma's setter was just too hard to read.

_**But what about me?**_ Tsukishima had asked himself the question millions of times since Hinata Shouyou had transformed. Unfortunately, the tall middle blocker could not find an answer.

Simply put, Tsukishima was in a period of self-denial.

The tall blonde could not help but pass a hand over his forehead, simply because of confusion. There were a myriad of emotions having a nasty turf war inside his heart, and it was affecting his rational mindset.

"Tsukki?" Yamaguchi came up behind Tsukishima, worried. "You okay?"

Tsukishima looked at his friend underneath the palm of his hand. "Yeah," he said, and he quickly walked away, leaving a baffled Yamaguchi behind.

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Poor Kenma had no idea how to stop innocent (although Kenma would have used the term stupid if his friend was physically still a guy) Hinata from going out with Kuroo. It seems that there's no stopping the little gingerhead shortie from leaving the safe training camp, where her guardians (the members of Karasuno) could keep an eye on her. Although Kenma knew very well that Kuroo, despite his scheming and shrewd personality was honest and thoughtful towards the people he truly cared for, he could not help but feel apprehensive about this trip to the sports store to check on the new uniforms for Nekoma. The last thing Kenma wanted was to find his childhood friend have some feelings towards the wrong person.

_**Not that Hinata isn't worth falling in love with, but…**_

"Maybe I should look for a new pair of volleyball shoes!" Hinata spoke excitedly, pulling Kenma out of his reverie while they walked together down the corridor. Kenma glanced at her and frowned. Poor Hinata, she had no idea how Kuroo feels about her, and she looks so happy going out with him for an entirely different reason…

All of the boys of Karasuno were already up that morning. The seniors came out of their quarters, and whatever sleepiness they had quickly faded away upon seeing their kouhai, replaced by shock and awe.

"H-hinata?" Sawamura's jaw dropped. Asahi looked dumbstruck, while Sugawara was half-surprised, as if he had already known how Hinata would look in a dress. But his silvery eyes flashed dangerously at Kenma, making the boy shudder in fear. Kenma had remembered Yamamoto say something about his dream when someone electrocuted him. He had hunches that the Mohawk-head had not been dreaming, and one of these three boys was the culprit.

Kenma had never been to a lunatic asylum before, but he felt like he was surrounded by psychopaths.

"Kenma," there was an icy edge in Sugawara's voice. "You're _**here**_."

Kenma glanced away, afraid to look at the silver-haired setter in the eye.

"Sawamura-san," Hinata said. "I'm going to accompany Kuroo-san to a sports store."

Sawamura frowned at the little gingerhead. The last thing he wanted was to have Hinata out of his sight. He was her responsibility, after all. "Do you really have to? I've made a promise to you father, Hinata. Remember?"

Hinata nodded. "But it's part of my job as a manager, you see."

"You're not a permanent manager for Nekoma, Hinata." Kenma sounded insistent. Hinata raised her eyebrows at him.

"I don't see anything wrong about helping you guys out. This is my last day as your manager, after all."

Kenma frowned. Today was the last day of the training camp in Tokyo, and Karasuno was about leave by evening. After realizing that the lovely elfin girl standing beside him was his friend Shouyou, Kenma felt a pang in the chest as he did not get to spend time with his friend.

Kenma's thoughts were interrupted when Sugawara heaved a sigh.

"Very well," Suga said. "You can go, Hinata."

At this, Hinata brightened up into a smile. "Really?"

Suga raised a finger at her as he began to speak sternly, like a mother reprimanding her daughter. "But, I want you to come back before six. And…" he looked at Kenma tentatively this time.

"Kenma has to accompany you."

At this, Kenma's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

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**Hehe. This isn't what's supposed to happen, but anyway. Surpise.**

**Review?**


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